LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap. Copyright No. 

Shelf...L.ii) \ . 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



LIFE WORK 

OF / 

THOMAS L. NUGENT 



EDITED BY 

Mrs. Catharine Nugent 



" To serve the great as if it were the small; 
To serve the small as if it were the great; 
To be in each the servant of the all; /'^ri '^"'^''^^7S5r^.. 

To move as lightning, or to stand and wait."/v-*'^ >-'^" *•'',(</ ',;'>, 



1/ 



PUBLISHED BY CATHARINE NUGENT 

STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS 



PRESS OF LAIRD & LEE, CHICAGO 



\ 






Entered according to Act of Congress, 
in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-six, by 

CATHARINE NUGENT. 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress 
at Washington. 



This Volume is Dedicated 

To 

My Dear Husband 

WHOSE BEAUTIFUL LIFE AND UNTIRING DEVOTION HAVE BEEN MY INSPIRATION 

AND UPLIFTING AMID LIFE'S TRIALS DURING THE FIFTEEN YEARS OF 

A HAPPY EARTHLY UNION, AND ARE NOW MY GUIDING 

STAR TO A HIGHER REALAt 



PREFACE 

It has been well said that no great man is an accident. To 
the mind believing in an over-ruling providence, this seems 
true. If that Power which creates and sustains all things does, 
indeed, direct the affairs of nations and of individuals, then 
every factor in all great problems must of necessity be an inte- 
gral, an indispensable part of its solution. Such a factor in the 
great problem of political reform now pressing for solution in 
this and other nations, was the subject of this volume, Thomas 
Lewis Nugent. 

In its pages will be found an account of his ancestry, 
nativit)^ childhood, domestic and religious character, profes- 
sional career, political advocacies, his campaigns of 1892 and 
1894, his views on the land question, his death and burial, 
funeral notices, resolutions and eulogisms of various bodies, 
letters and telegrams of condolence, etc. , constituting a thesauncs 
of all that was most valuable in the life, labors and death of 
this remarkable man. 

Here will be found the inspiration, hope and soul of a great 
reformer, the logic of a great reasoner, the sympathy of the 
true humanitarian, the wisdom of the philosopher, and the 
prophetic ken of the .seer. 

His speeches have been declared, even by his political oppon- 
ents, to be unassailable at every point. His character, likewise, 
was proof against calumny, which, through all his career, dared 
not hurl a shaft at him. Armed and equipped, inspired and 
fired with the matchless thoughts and arguments abounding in 
this volume, a young reader will feel strengthened in his con- 
flict with the difficulties of life — an older one, thrice happy in 
his retrospect of all that is noble in his own past ; while both 



PREFACE. 

will be encouraged amid the trials of the present, and hopeful 
for the future. 

But it was in his labors in behalf of political reform, that 
the real grandeur of this character shone forth. Here, indeed, 
will be found the man far in advance of his time, the pioneer 
further along, and higher in his plane of life than the unhappy 
masses ; yea, far beyond and above even the wise and the 
learned of the old "schools." He seemed to see the stolid 
indifference of many, through ignorance, to their rights and 
wrongs. He evidently comprehended the blindness of the 
leaders in political thought and action, and mourned their 
inability to see the happiness that might be secured for the 
great body of people and themselves by a simple return to prin- 
ciples and politics truly unselfish and absolutely just. Believ- 
ing that the woes of mortal life rise mainly out of man's viola- 
tion of the just laws and commands of nature, he strove, as 
perhaps no other leader in the State, to establish a political 
system on the Golden Rule. His whole soul seemed to be 
filled with the thought, as expressed in the views of a contem- 
poraneous writer : 

*• Oh, where is the yearning of souls for the right ? 

Oh, where is the turning of souls unto God ? 
Why do men in deep valleys still grope in the night, 
While the mountain tops blaze in the splendor of light, 

And pathways lead upwards where angels have trod, 
And realms are in reach so ineffably bright ? 
Are pain and destruction more alluring to man 
Than the bliss that's assured in God's wonderful plan ? " 

To this blindness of the leaders and this indifference and 
ignorance of the masses, he devoted his most earnest and most 
unselfish efforts. To show them the path to true happiness 
and real prosperity, was the desire of his life. In this behalf 
and to this end he bent the energies of his mind and body, 
sparing neither when fitting occasion oflfered for their proper 
exertion. 

That a life so noble and so unselfish may not have been in 
vain, this volume goes forth a reflection, dim it is true, but the 
best that may be caught thereof. And it is hoped that when 



PREFACE. 

man shall have been restored to his proper, his normal relation 
to his government, his public servants, his neighbor and him- 
self, among the names of those whose teachings and example 
aided mightily the great result, will brightly shine forth that 
of him whose thoughts and deeds are preserved in this volume, 
Thomas I^ewis Nugent. 



CONTENTS 



Frontispiece Portrait of Thomas L. Nugent 

Preface Prof. J. G. H. Buck, of Hillsboro, Texas 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES: 

Biography 13 

Sketch — James Armstrong, Jr., of Hempstead 16 

Sketch — Rev. J. C. Nugent, Minister in M. E. Church, Mississippi 19 

Judge T.L.Nugent, THE Lawyer — Hon. Lee Young, of Stephen villc Bar 22 
Judge Nugent as a Political Leader — Hon. C. H. Jenkins, of Brown- 
wood 26 

Sketch — Hon. C. K. Bell, Member U. S. Congress 27 

Judge Thomas L. Nugent (A Character Sketch) — Rev. W. F. Pack- 
ard, Minister in the M. E. Church, Missouri SO 

A Tribute of Love — W. S. Essex, Attorney at Law, Fort Worth 35 

Sketch — Mrs. Belle M. Burchill, Pres. TarrantCounty Benevolent Home 38 

Sketch — Hon. H. L. Bentley, of Abilene 40 

Sketch — Hon. W. M. Walton, Austin, Texas 44, 

Sketch — Alice McAnulty, Prominent Leader in the Woman Suffrage 

Movement 45 

Speech Nominating Judge Nugent as Candidate for the United 

States Senate — Hon. L. L. Rhodes, of Van Zandt 46 

ANECDOTES, REMINISCENCES, ETC.: 

Sketch— John W. Wray, Attorney at Law, Fort Worth 49 

Sketch — L. Calhoun, Editor Industrial Educator, Fort Worth 56 

Sketch — Hon. L. L. Rhodes 61 

Sketch — Hon. S. O. Moodie, Fort Worth 63 

Letter to Mrs. Nugent— Judge Thos. B. King 65 

Letter from Santa Claus to Little Fritzie Powers — Hon. T. L. 

Nugent 70 

An Incident of the Campaign of 1894 71 



6 CONTENTS 

RJ'UGIOUS VIEWS: 

Religion, Politics, Philosophy — Hou. T. L. Xujjent 73 

Judge Nugent's Religious Views 7+ 

Letter to Mrs. Nugent — Rev. E. Payson Walton, Xew Church Minister 92 
Letter to Mrs. Nugent — Rev. A. B. I'rancisco, of (ialvcston. New 

Church Minister 'jr> 

OPINIONS ON LABOR SUBJECTS: 

Judge Nugent and The Farmer's Alliance — Dr. Marshall Mcllhany, 

President Stcphcnville College 99 

Views on the Land Question — Prof. J. G. H. Buck, of Ilillsboro Ill 

Judge Nugent and the Labor Unions — Dr. Ellen Lavvson Dabbs 120 

SPEECHES AND PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS: 

The Issue Defined — Hon. T. L. Nugent 125 

Speech of Judge Nugent at San Marcos 159 

Judge Nugent's Opening Speech for Governor, 1894- 178 

Judge Nugent on Finance 207 

Judge Nugent AT Stephenville, 1892 237 

Judge Nugent in Ellis County 2-1-5 

Judge Nugent on the Burning — Dallas News 2-i9 

Sound and Logical — (Letter to the Mercury) Hon. T. I^. Nugent 251 

Hon. T. L. Nugent's Views — Letter to the Mercury 255 

Not Ashamed to Think — ^Judge Nugent's Reply to Dr. Rankin 261 

Judge Nugent's Charge to the Gr.xnd Jury, Palo Pi.xto, 1879 2R7 

Judge Nugent Declines to Make the Race for Siti-remic Judge... 279 

TTnfinished Mani^script of Judge Nugent 285 

Judge Nugent's Letter to the Mercury, Withukawing from the 

Race for Governor 295 

LETTERS: 

Extracts from I^etthrs to His Bkotiiicr 297 

A Letter to a Friend •>1~ 

E.xtracts from Letters to His Wiimc 321 

nicwspaper and personal KSTI.MATICS 

ol- JUDGE NUGENT: 

Through Texas — St. I^ouis GloboDeinocrat 333 

Sketch — Hon. S. W. T. Lanham, Member U. S. Cmigress 34-2 

Sketch — Dr. J. B. Cranfill, l^ditor Baptist Stand.-ird, W.aco, Texas... 3t t- 

LiCTTER TO Mrs. Nugent — Hon. D. .M. Reedy, of Tyler 3t<> 

Letter to Mrs. Nugent — S. Frank, Esq., Stephenville 347 

Letter to Mrs. Nugent — Rev. J. B. Dabney, of.'VIvord 349 

Sketch — J. C. Powers, Esq., Gatesville ^-i'J 

Sketch, with Illustration of Judge Nugent's Homi-; at Stephen- 
ville — Prof. Randolph Clark, President .\dd-Kan University. 

tV'aco, Texas 350 

Sketch— Hon J. .M. Perdue..... ...........;, ;, 351 



CONTENTS 7 

FUNERAL NOTICES AND RESOLUTIONS : 

Announcement of Judge Nugent's Death in the Dallas News 35i; 

Consigned to Earth 353 

Remarks by Hon. G. H. Goodson, or Comanche, at the Grave of 

Judge Nugent 369 

Extracts from the Press of the State 372 

Letters of Sympathy and Condolence to Mrs. Nugent 38r» 

To the Memory of Hon. T. L. Nugent — (A Poem) Mrs. F. C. Thomp- 
son 391 

Resolutions of Respect 392 

People's Party Club, Floresville, Texas 393 

Judge T. L. Nugent — E. M. Wheelocl;, Minister, Austin, Texas 39fi 

Masonic Resolutions 397 



BIOGRAPHY 

Thomas Lewis Nugent was born at Opelousas, Louisiana, 
Jul}^ 3 6, 1841. His father, Thomas Nugent, was a native of 
Ireland, having been born on his father's estate near Rash- 
sowney, Queen's County, Ireland, in 1792. Being the 
younger son of a large family, he resolved to seek his fortune 
in America. He arrived at Philadelphia in November, 1816. 
In 1818 he went from Philadelphia to Natchez, Miss. From 
Mississippi he went to New Orleans. In 1827 he married Miss 
Anne Lavinia Lewis, daughter of Judge Seth Lewis, Chief 
Justice of the Mississippi Territory and subsequently for many 
years District or Circuit Judge of Louisiana. After his mar- 
riage he settled in Opelousas, where Thomas Lewis Nugent 
was born. Thomas Nugent' s family were all members of the 
Church of England, in which church he had been confirmed 
before leaving Ireland. Being associated with Methodists in 
America, he joined that branch of the Christian church. Both 
he and his wife were deeply pious, and it was from them that 
their son Thomas Lewis, inherited his strong love for the study 
and investigation of religious subjects. His father was noted 
for honesty and integrity, and a sweetness of disposition that, 
in a man, was remarkable. His mother was a woman of strong 
character, very solid and practical, and of firmly fixed princi- 
ples. She seems to have made a deep impression upon the 
characters of all her children. She was highly cultivated and 
intelligent, and kept well informed on all subjects. She could 
discuss politics, as well as other subjects, with the ablest and her 
sons, who all adored her, found her no mean companion and 
sympathizer. 

Thomas Lewis had a fine ear for music and though his 
musical talent seems never to have had any training, he played 
well upon the violin even when a child, and his playing was a 
source of great pleasure to all his family in their home life. 

13 



14 THK LIFK WORK OF TlIOMAvS I.. NUCxJCNT. 

When he was a small boy a brother-in-law, who was very fond 
of him, presented him with a very fine instrument which he 
kept with him all through his college life. He was systematic 
in his enjoyment of this pastime, as in all things, and it was his 
custom to spend a short time each evening after supper in 
playing his violin before beginning his studies for the night. 
He was at that time studying for the Methodist ministry, and 
the only thing that marred his pleasure grew out of the fact 
that many good religious people of that da}'' looked upon the 
violin as more in keeping with his Satanic Majesty than with 
a theological student. Criticism was always painful to him 
and he preferred never to give offense to any one ; but true to 
the principle which actuated his after life, not seeing or feeling 
any adverse results from the use of his violin, he continued to 
give utterance to the music of his soul upon its chords. 

He was of a deeply religious turn of mind and spent hours in 
reading the Bible and pondering over deep theological (pics- 
tions when most boys would have been at play. 

Among his father's slaves was Nancy, a woman v/ho from 
birth had been an invalid. She was the child of his mother's 
cook who, in turn, had been the child of his grandmother's 
cook. Poor Nancy had inherited along with her misfortunes 
an hereditary kindness and synipath}- from her mistress' family. 
During her last months of suffering, she could no longer go up 
to the "big house" where she had been for thirty years an 
object of painful anxiety and care; but was confined to her 
cabin. The young Thomas would go after supper to see her, 
when he would read the Bible to her and pray with her. He 
had been reading and praying with her the night she died. 
This was at an age when most boys think onlj^ of the pleasures 
and allurements of life. 

His childhood days were very happy and the memory of 
them was a source of pleasure to him through all the cares and 
trials of after life. He wrote to a brother, March 11, 1873. 

" Mv Dear Brother: 

" I received and read your letter with many emotions I cannot 
express. It .seems to me like a voice from the distant past, 
speaking of childhood and youth and the halcyon days that 
are crowded and filled with blessed memories and fragrant with 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 15 

purity and peace. Recollections of the good old days when 
we sported round our mother's knee will never ceaSe to yield 
me a fragrant joy." 

He graduated at Centenary College, L,a. , with the highest 
honors in 1861. Immediately afterwards he went to Texas 
for his health which had been much impaired by hard and con- 
tinuous application to his studies. He returned home in a few 
months, but in 1862 he went back to Texas where he per- 
manently settled. He enlisted and served in the army in 
Texas during the war. He had many doubts even then, 
though belonging to a large slave holding family, of the 
righteousness of the institution of slavery. When the news of 
lyce's surrender came, he said, " The hand of God is in it." 

At the close of the war he taught school in Austin and in 
other places. Many of his pupils are now scattered through 
Texas, and it is said they all remember him with great respect 
and affection. One of them said of him that his great capacity 
of drawing to himself the love and respect of all men, was very 
marked in his relations with his pupils. 

In 1870 he was admitted to the bar and commenced the 
practice of law. In 1871 he settled in Bosque County, then on 
the frontier. His learning and fidelity to duty were soon 
recognized and he became well known in that section. In 1873 
he removed to Stephenville, in Erath County, where he lived, 
with the exception of a two year's residence in El Paso, until 
he removed to Fort Worth in 1891. He was a member of the 
Constitutional Convention of 1875, and served with dis- 
tinguished ability and eminent satisfaction to his constituents. 
He was appointed by Governor Roberts, in 1879, to preside as 
District Judge over the newly-created 29th Judicial District, 
consisting of Palo Pinto, Hood, Somervell, Hamilton, Coryell 
and Erath Counties. He was subsequently elected twice in 
succession to this office which he resigned in July, 1888. 

In 1892 he was unanimously nominated by the People's 
Party of Texas as candidate for Governor. He considered 
the canvass hopeless except for its educational effects upon 
the people ; but as his greatest desire was to contribute to the 
uplifting and enlightenment of the masses of the people, he 



16 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

consented, though at a great sacrifice of his business interests 
and health, to lead the " forlorn hope." 

He was again nominated by acclamation by the same party, 
in ]894. Had he lived, he would most probably have lead the 
party to victory in 1896. 

He died at Fort Worth, December 14, 1895. 

His whole life and character are embraced in the simple 
words — the last that fell from his lips on earth — " I have tried 
to do my duty." 

* * * 

Of all the great and good men who have lived in Texas, 
there was, perhaps, not one who developed more rapidly or 
more securely in public esteem, as he became known than did 
Judge Thomas L,. Nugent, the leader of the People's party in 
the State of Texas. 

And of all the great and good men who have died in Texas, 
none, I believe, was more universally beloved or more sincerely 
and universally mourned. His life and death are an invalu- 
able lesson to all men, but especially to the rising generations, 
that must, in the near future, take their places on the stage of 
public action, made vacant by retirement from public life, old 
age and death. 

To the People's party. Judge Nugent was while living a 
" pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night." In 
death, his memory is an inspiration — a beacon light as his soul 
goes marching on. 

In life, his detractors were few. In death, his eulogists were 
legion — from bar, press and people — the nature, quality and 
sincerity of which may be epitomized by a republication of the 
eloquent expressions of his friend, James Armstrong, Jr. , of 
Hempstead, Texas, published in the Galveston News, and 
which reads as follows : 

Hempstead, Texas, December 17, 1895. 
To the Nezvs : 

Statesman, jurist, philosopher and patriot — the friend of 
truth, of justice and benevolence, our beloved and loving com- 
rade has passed to rest. His heart still beating warmly with 
sympathy for his suffering fellow-men, his soul still bravely 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 17 

following amid the wreck of hope and the mists of tears an 
ever-beckoning ideal; his ej^es still turned towards the "pur- 
pling east," from out whose brightening horizon the angels of 
love and peace were calling still their chosen pilgrim; his un- 
stained spirit grew weary of its home of clay, and breaking 
the bonds of its immurement, hastened to the fulfillment of its 
dreams. He had placed a burden upon his .shoulders beyond 
his strength, and, faltering for a moment to rest his wearied 
energies, ' ' he fell into that dreamless sleep that kisses down 
his eyelids still."' In the midst of duties and the tide of years, 
while yet the shifting sands were .scarcely run and de.sire was 
about to clasp the hand of opportunity; while time was reas.sur- 
ing hope and wreathing for him an amaranthine crown of civic 
glory — he fell, a blessed martyr. He had not entered yet the 
gathering shadows of life's golden sunset, where, in the stream 
of mellow light, Age recalls the record of the years, and, con- 
scious of days well spent, awaits the gloaming as calmly as 
the moonlight greets the sea. 

Three score and ten would have added nothing to his great- 
ness. He filled the measure of ideal manhood in wisdom, jus- 
tice, goodness. Among his fellowmen he was the standard of 
companions. His wisdom was the unfailing guide of thousands; 
his justice a fountain of perpetual joy. His kindness was a 
.sea that welcomed every tributary stream of sadness and of 
sorrow, and touched the .shores of poverty and distress through- 
out the world. His .soul dwelt in the .shadow of the towering 
deformity of existing institutions, and there he heard, or seemed 
to hear, the constant cries of those who groped within the 
gloom of woe and misery. His human S3'mpathy fathomed 
the depths of all despair, and could his hand have lent assist- 
ance to his heart, he would have led the victims of greed and 
guile into the sun-kissed plains of prosperity and peace. 

His life lent dignity to human nature. His purposes were 
beyond the reach of calumny; his deeds were the admiration 
of all men and the achievement of the few. His death made 
thousands mourn the loss of a common benefactor. Truth was 
the shrine at which he worshipped, and duty the object of his 
veneration. In whatever department of life he moved, he 
adorned his sphere of action with the grace of the scholar and 



18 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

the virtues of the man. The voice of misery reached his ear, and 
if his hands were not the constant ministers of kindly offices, 
it was because the objects that touch the heart of sympathy 
were not constantly before him. As a citizen, he was beyond 
all censure; as a politician, he preserved his purity; as a states- 
man, he maintained his self-respect. In an age of greed, he 
was generous to the impoverishment of himself ; in an age of 
intense selfishness, he sacrificed his life for the welfare of his 
fellow-men. In an age of partisans and spoilsmen, he said that 
political leadership was something more than the service of 
friends — it was the service of humanity. To the oppressed, his 
words were as a guiding star, whose mellow and far-reaching 
rays came like a messenger of joy to thousands of life's hope- 
less voyagers. lyiving apart from the majority of men, he won 
the love of those who dwelt with him, and commanded the 
esteem of those who knew him only as a visitor; while his 
departure now from both touches every heart to tears. And if, 
as he believed, death is but a fleeting shadow between the con- 
fines of two worlds, a passing cloud eclipsing time and immor- 
tality — if, as he confidently hoped, the grave is but an open 
door to another and better life, his own unsullied spirit will be 
among the brightest that throng that happier realm. To those 
who still loiter along the shore of time, peering vainly across 
the wide expanse for a sail from unknown lands, he has left 
the example of a life well spent — the ennobling memory of a 
man whose every word was rounded out by love and justice, 
whose every deed was born of infinite kindness for his fellow- 
man. 

" Farewell, O brave and generous man." Our grief cannot 
be told in words. Our falling tears are shattered prisms that 
reflect a thousand miseries. 

Thy words and deeds and life are a priceless legacy of liberty 
and love. 

The world neither has, nor can have, memories more sacred 
or enduring than are those of thy incomparable manhood. 
Above thy consecrated dust, the sculptured shaft can only 
speak the truth. Neither the page of history nor the voice of 
song can exaggerate thy work and worth. 

;.k ;K * 



THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS h. NUGENT. 11) 

My brother Thomas was born July 16, 1841. He was nearly 
two 5'ears and five months older than I; but other differences 
between us indicated a much greater diflference between our 
ages. He was vigorous, strong and well grown for his age 
until he was about 16 years old; I was small, rather delicate 
and frail until I was over 18. He was meditative and studious, 
even when a boy. I cannot recall any boyishness in him. I 
do not remember ever seeing him play marbles, though he 
would sometimes play ball. He liked horseback riding, though 
he was never enthusiastic, during his youth, in any kind of 
sport. Whatever ' 'wild oats' ' he may have sown were sown 
before he was eighteen years of age; for, when he was at home 
in the summer of 1859 (he was 18 on July 16, that year) he 
was already a deeply pious and devoted Christian. 

I was almost constantly with him from July, 1860, to 
October, 1861, and during that time he was such an example 
of Christian living as I have rarely known. A more guileless, 
humble, self-sacrificing man, old or young, it would be hard to 
find. Throughout his life his letters to me have indicated the 
same earnest religious purpose and practice. Though his views 
of the Christian doctrines had undergone a radical change at 
most points, yet his firm faith in God incarnated in Christ, a 
real "faith which worketh by love," never failed nor wavered. 
His views threw him out of harmony with the churches as to 
theology, but not as to the religious life; and his reliance upon 
the mercy of God remained steadfast. He had a nature so 
earnest that he could not be a trifler even when a boy. Play 
soon palled on his taste. As far back as my memory of him 
can go his boyhood comes back to me as one somewhat out of 
harmony with those of equal age, on account of that under- 
tone of seriousness which in his youth became a chief character- 
istic of him. Before he was old enough to appreciate the great 
responsibilities of life his mind seemed to dwell on the larger 
questions that arrest the attention and engage the interest of 
older heads. He would spend his vacations almost wholly in 
reading and writing history. Its great movements and its 
great men were his delight. When he entered college, a little 
after he was sixteen, he had a good general knowledge of his- 



20 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

tory, rapidly increased during his four years spent there. 
(Centenary College, La.) 

He read with avidity the lives of great men who had risen 
to eminence in Church and State; and when he read he 
meditated. He read philosophy and wrestled with its problems 
early in life, perhaps too early, for his mind was naturally 
speculative. 

I have a picture in my mind, distinct and clear in every 
detail as any on the walls of my memory. My brother 
Thomas, a youth, sitting on the front porch of our home on 
the Atchafalaya river, in Louisiana, a volume of Clark's Com- 
mentary in his hand, where many a day he sat for hours read- 
ing the Holy Scriptures and thinking upon them. This 
serious, reverential study of the Word of God, and the edifying 
conversation thereon with mother which accompanied or 
followed it, accounts in some measure for the greatness of 
heart and the true, clear, moral insight which characterized 
him throughout his career. No doubt if he had been asked at 
any time who, under God, exerted the greatest influence in the 
formation of his character, he would at once have replied, 
"Mother." That would be true; yet some of the finest phases 
of his moral and spiritual manhood reflect ideals that came to 
him through his father. 

Thomas always stood high in his classes, and would have 
taken the first honor if the exercises of the college had con- 
tinued. The war broke out, many of the older boys went to 
the army and he and I went home several weeks before the 
Commencement would have occurred. He was a diligent 
student, not only for love's sake but for conscience's sake. He 
read much and composed much. He was regarded as one of 
the best speakers in a large literary society. He joined the 
society soon after entering college and rapidly rose to the first 
place among its speakers, and was one of the best debaters. He 
resolved at the very beginning to take part in every debate, 
whether appointed or not, even if he had failed to make any 
preparation. His rule was to prepare for the debate every 
week. As a consequence it came to pass within a short time 
that he was a ready debater and speaker, having a singularly 
easy and fluent style. He would (unless appointed on the 



THE UFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 21 

other side) choose the side which he thought to be right, and 
would argue those questions for practice with as much earnest- 
ness as if he thought grave and serious consequences would 
follow should they be wrongly decided. 

At the end of his freshman year he was elected one of four, 
out of a large membership in the society, to deliver an original 
speech at Commencement. He delivered his speech a few days 
before he was seventeen years old. I was quite proud of him, 
and thought him the smartest boy in the college. Twice dur- 
ing his Sophomore and Junior years, in February and July, 
and once in his Senior year he was honored with the same 
distinction. 

Thomas was always a manly boy, and withal an exceedingly 
generous soul. When I was ten years old, in a sudden heat of 
temper (brought on by him unintentionally) I really put his 
life in peril for a moment. I was overwhelmed with fear in an 
instant for what I might have done. The negro house-girl 
said, ' 'You ought to tell your mother about it. He might have 
killed you. If you don't I will." To my dying day I will 
never forget that noble boy (13 years old) that almost unparal- 
leled brother, as he said, ' 'Phillis, if you tell on him and get him 
a whipping I will give you a pounding if I get a thrashing for 
it." I was thrashed enough then. Many years since reaching 
manhood I have kept that in my mind. It has often brought 
tears to my eyes, as memory carried me back to the days of 
childhood. My oldest sister related to me last summer that 
when we were children she knew him to take punishment 
which I deserved more than he did, because he did not want to 
see me in distress and because he thought it unworthy to 
implicate me. 

If undying love, inexpressible brotherly love, and life-long 
repentance have sufficed to wipe out my childish sins against 
him, they have long since been put away. His boyhood and 
youth made such an impression on me that I have recognized 
its effect until this day, with sentiments of gratitude to God 
and devotion to him. Rev.J. C. Nugent. 



22 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMaS L. NUGENf. 

JUDGE T, L, NUGENT— THE LAWYER. 

Of Judge Nugent's life a number of persons have written. 
Of his life as a lawyer it is ray pleasure to write. 

When I first met him, in 1878, he was already in successful 
practice. For about ten years he had practiced his chosen pro- 
fession — first at Meridian and then at Stephenville. In 1878 
he and Judge H. H. Neill were associated under the firm name 
of Nugent & Neill. It was a strong firm, and its practice was 
as good as that of any of the frontier lawj^ers in this part of the 
State. Frontier practice is, necessarily, varied in character. 
There is no room for the specialist. Consequently the frontier 
lawyer learns something of almost every branch of the practice 
and is compelled to be a student of the law in all its phases. 
Both partners were hard workers and hard students, and to each 
has come a recognition of his worth and abilities. It is pleas- 
ant, too, to remember that their warm friendship continued 
initil death came to one of them, and that no differences of belief 
or politics ever affected it. 

As a lawyer at the bar Judge Nugent was unusually suc- 
cessful. He was able to select the most salient points of his 
case and to make the contest upon them. He avoided contest 
upon iniimportant points, and by conceding them to his 
adversary, appeared to have the greater right to contend on 
the material issues of his case. In the practice, he was cour- 
teous always, and never forgot the deference due to others. In 
him the presiding judge had an able assistant, who had 
studied all sides of the case being tried and could refer to all 
the decisions. In argument he was strong, as a public speaker 
some of his efforts deservedly took high rank ; but many of 
his arguments while at the bar were models of accurate state- 
ment, strong logical reasoning, and of beautifull}^ accurate 
language. Whether written or spoken, his mastery of the 
English language was unusual. Many of his law arguments 
deserve a place in the literature of our profession. 

As a lawyer he was one of the most genial and companion- 
able of the members of the bar. In most country towns the 
law5'ers constitute a sort of social club and when the work of 
the day is over, they are apt to discuss the many questions 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 23 

which interest men — the latest news, the latest discoveries in 
science, religious and social topics. Upon most subjects Judge 
Nugent was always well informed and a charming conver- 
sationalist. 

To the beginner in the practice, he was always helpful; and 
for words of encouragement spoken, advice or assistance kindly 
given, many a young lawyer will gladly make acknowledge- 
ment. Of this the writer can speak advisedly and gratefully. 

No man was more careful of his professional reputation — 
more careful to deserve the confidence which was his. His 
word given to one of his professional brethren as to any matter 
in any case was all that was ever required. The ethics of 
his profession he guarded with punctilious care. He was a 
lawyer and proud of his profession and proud of his own stand- 
ing in the profession. Infinitely better for the world would it 
be, if the legal profession were permitted to make the pro- 
fession what his conception of it was. But, unfortunately, 
there is a demand that men who have no qualification for it 
shall find admission to it — for cheap lawyers — cheap in 
value. 

For the needed and proper reformation of the bar, he was 
ever an earnest advocate. At one time he assisted the writer 
in preparing a bill to regulate and control the admission of 
candidates for the bar. But for the reforms provided the poli- 
ticians were not desirous. Senator L. N. Frank introduced 
the bill, but it could never run the gauntletof oneof the houses 
of the Texas Legislature. 

Judge Nugent loved his profession. The demagogue who 
decried the legal profession never found an advocate in him. 
While he lamented the fact that unworthy men could find an 
entrance, he knew that the great body of the legal profession 
were men of intelligence and refinement, and useful conserva- 
tors of our institutions. In no other way can be more fully 
shown his clear conception of the duties of the lawyer and the 
judge, and the lawyer's position in, and relation to, our civiliza- 
tion, than by giving here a letter from him to the writer. This 
was upon an occasion when the Stephenville bar had expressed 
resolutions of love and regard for him, and regret at his depart- 
ure when he reniove4 to Fort Worth, 



24 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS h. NUGENT. 

Fort Worth, Texas, Jan. 11, 1892. 
Lee Young, Esq., Stephenville, Texas: 

Dear Lee, — On Saturday night last, my wife read to me the 
resolutions passed by the Stephenville bar on the occasion of 
my removal to this place, and on this morning, I find the same 
resolutions published in the Gazette. Language would fail me, 
Lee, to express my grateful approval of this generous action 
by professional gentlemen with whom I have been intimately 
associated for so many years. I have always prized the good 
opinion of my professional brethren very highly, because asso- 
ciation with lawyers from my earliest childhood has taught me 
that the profession is the school of schools for high-souled 
honor and integrity, for manly devotion to duty, and for 
lofty and unselfish patriotism. I know that there are those 
who are apt to criticise lawyers severely, but while recogniz- 
ing the exceptions to the rule, my long experience on the 
bench and at the bar has not given me any reason to partici- 
pate in or sympathize with the indiscriminate criticism of 
lawyers as a class. They have their faults like other men, but 
do away with this noble class of men and civil liberty would 
perish in a decade. The history of struggling freemen would 
read but poorly, if the recitals of heroic sacrifices made by law- 
yers in defence of human rights were eliminated from its pages. 
Indeed, they are the bulwarks of constitutional freedom in 
Christendom to-day. Is it wonderful, therefore, that with such 
an opinion of lawyers, I should regard the warm-hearted com- 
mendation of the vStephenville bar as a sort of benediction — a 
veritable blessing falling down and around me from the good 
genius of friendship and brotherly love ! 

One thing, Lee, I would like to say — when I was first ap- 
pointed to the bench, I felt most deeply my dependence upon 
intelligent lawyers for the successful accomplishment of my 
work. I made up my mind, therefore, to give them full time 
for discussion, hear them patiently and dispassionately, and 
treat them with the kindness and consideration which they 
deserved. I am not willing to .say that I always observed this 
rule, but in the main I did ; and to this I attribute chiefly 
what success I attained on the bench. You will find this to be 
the only safe rule when you come to serve the people in judi- 
cial position. Of course, I know that your natural inclina- 
tions all lead you in that direction; but what I mean to say is, 
that on the bench, you will for the first time come to know 
how utterly dependent upon good lawyers a judge is, and you 
will then for the first time fully understand why a judge who 
imagines himself independent of lawyers always makes a 
failure. 



THE UFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 25 

I want you and the other members of the Stephenville bar to 
know, that all the experiences of the past — the professional 
rivalries, the forensic contests, the political differences, and all 
the other ups and downs — have not left a single sting in my 
heart. What the future may have for me, I do not know; but 
I expect to cherish my association with that bar as among the 
most precious memories of my life. 

With cordial wishes for your success and prosperity. 

Very truly yr, friend, 

T. h. Nugent. 

Judge Nugent exemplified his own conception of the lawyer 
and the judge — of him no one could say more. 

But his influence reached out to others, and helped them to 
be what he conceived the true lawyer. He worked earnestly 
for the upbuilding of his profession — for the ennobling the 
lives of the men in the profession. He felt that in a govern- 
ment of law, a knowledge of the law was necessary for the 
preservation of the government, and he conceived it to be the 
duty of every citizen to exercise his intelligence. But he 
recognized that the enactment and execution of the law was the 
lawyer's special field of duty. 

Of his ability and success as a judge, others have written. 
But we of the Stephenville bar always loved him and claimed 
him, and felt that he was more especially ours. Here the best 
years of his manhood were spent. Here his first successes were 
won. Here our people felt that they had special interest in 
him; and this feeling was not changed by his removal to a 
higher field — by differences in political beliefs — or anything 
else. 

During all his political life, none dared speak one word 
against the purity of his life or character. The slanderer was 
dumb, and his home people were ever ready to attest their love 
for and confidence in him. Here, when the end came, he 
finds a resting place in the soil of our East Side cemetery, 
upon his own old homestead. Reqtiiescat in pace. 

Lee Young, of the Stephenville Bar. 



26 THB LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

JUDGE NUGENT AS A POLITICAL LEADER, 

In the great movement which cuhninated in the formation of 
the People's Party in 1892, and in which Texas came to the 
front, and in the succeeding campaign, Judge Nugent was the 
recognized and undisputed leader in this State. But he was a 
most remarkable political leader; he was not personally ambi- 
tious; he had no thought of becoming famous, and he had no 
desire for ofl&ce. In these usual characteristics of political 
leadership he was wanting. Thirty minutes before his nom- 
ination for Governor, he did not think that he would consent 
to be a candidate. He did not expect the People's' Party to be 
victorious in that campaign; but it was not this that caused 
him to protest against his name going before the convention ; 
for, though not financially and physically able to fight a losing 
battle, he would not for a moment have hesitated to lead a for- 
lorn hope in the cause he so firmly believed to be just, had he 
realized that he was the most suitable man to lead in the con- 
test. When the first campaign was over, he honestly thought 
that he would not again be a candidate, and consented to accept 
the second nomination for Governor only after it was apparent 
that it was the unanimous wish of the reformers of Texas that 
he should do so, and when he saw that not to do so would dis- 
courage the patriotic host who were calling upon him to again 
lead them in the battle for the right. Judge Nugent believed 
himself to be unfitted for political leadership. In the ordinary 
sense of the term, he was right. He was not combative. He 
had none of the spirit of Job's war horse, that sniifed the battle 
afar off and was eager for the fray. With clear, prophetic 
vision, he saw the hosts of the people broken and driven back 
from the citadels of plutocracy; and, though he never doubted 
that they would ultimately be victorious, his heart bled for the 
suffering which he knew they must endure. He was incapable 
of dissembling — a thing which is supposed by many to Ijc 
necessary to political leadership. Victory for the sake of tri- 
umph was not to him a pleasant thought. He looked upon 
the sufferings and oppressions of the people more in sorrow 
than in anger. He would rather have converted his opponents 
than to have defeated them. His w^as the spirit that caused 



The i^ipe work of thomas l. nugent. 27 

Jesus to weep over Jerusalem instead of contemplating with sat- 
isfaction the doom that its crimes and ingratitude were soon to 
bring upon it. 

Reform movements naturally attract two classes of men who 
are liable to injure them. The one is the honest enthusiast who 
has zeal without knowledge, and is ever anxious to crystallize 
some cranky notion in the platform of his party. Judge 
Nugent's calm judgment could not be imposed upon by the 
honest zeal and fallacious arguments of the men of this class. 
In nothing did he render his party greater service than in 
kindly, but firmly, unseating the hobby horse riders in the 
counsels of the party. The other class are the frauds, who 
seek to direct the reform movements to their personal gain. 
Not only was Nugent's whole nature opposed to frauds and 
shams, but he intuitively recognized them, even when mas- 
querading under the guise of patriotism which, though not, as 
has been cynically said, "the last refuge of the scoundrel " is 
often the surest one. His was the intelligence and moral 
courage to keep a reform movement both pure and practical. 
In another element of political leadership was he deficient. 
That was oratory, as the term is commonly understood. He 
had none of that rant that pleases the ear of the thoughtless. 
He had none of the bitter invectives and cutting repartee 
that makes the tiger rise in men and say, " Hit him 
again." He was not funny. He could not have made a clown 
of himself had he tried. But he was pleasant in his presenta- 
tion of the truth, and earnest in his refutation of error. His 
premises were true, his logic faultless, and his conclusions 
irresistible. His soul was in the cause, his heart was in his 
speech, and the people heard him gladly. Political honesty 
was his plan of campaign, fairness was his only strategy, and 
truth his only diplomacy. In any cause but a just one, he 
could not have been a leader; but in such a one he was a leader 
without a peer. C. H. Jenkins. 

* * * 

My relations with Judge Nugent were of the most intimate 
character. When I first began the practice of law he was the 
recognized leader of the bar in the section of the state in which 



28 THK LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

we lived. As a practitioner, lie was always courteous and fair 
to court, counsel and witnesses, and was one of the most suc- 
cessful attorneys I ever met. If, as a practicing lawyer, he 
excelled in any one respect, it was in his ability to cross-exam- 
ine an unwilling or false witness. 

It was, however, as a trial judge that Judge Nugent laid the 
foundation for his enduring reputation. I am prepared to 
speak particularly on this point, for I practiced continually 
before him during the ten years he was on the bench, and for 
four years of the time I was the prosecuting attorney of the 
di.strict of which he was the judge. We travelled over the 
country together, from county seat to county seat, in a buggy, 
and generally stopped at the same hotel while the courts were 
in session. This threw us together continually and enabled 
me to form a more correct estimate of his mental characteris- 
tics and gave me a better insight into his moral worth than 
perhaps any one else possessed. I do not hesitate to say that 
I do not believe a more conscientious man than Judge Nugent 
ever lived. In fact, I sometimes thought that his fear that he 
might not do exact justice in cases pending before him, led him 
to hesitate too long in reaching his conclusions. There was 
absolutely no prejudice in his composition. I believe he 
would have decided any matter, as I know he did many 
times, against his best friend as quickly as against his worst 
enemy. 

But it is not only as a just man that I wish to speak of 
Judge Nugent. He was a particularly learned lawyer, and 
excelled any one I ever knew in his ability to express legal 
propositions clearly and satisfactorily in his charges to the jury. 
While I have not the books before me to enable me to refer to 
the volumes in which the cases are reported, I recall many 
instances in which the Supreme and Appellate courts of our 
state have commended in the highest terms, and in several 
instances where they have ordered the reporter to report in 
full, as correct models, the instructions given to juries by Judge 
Nugent. The case of David Kemp vs. the State was one of 
the most complicated cases I ever heard tried, and the charge 
in the case required the correct definition of murder in the 
first and second degrees, of manslaughter and justifiable homi- 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS h. NUGENT. 29 

cide, and their proper application to the facts in evidence; and 
in this case, the Appellate Court, after commenting most 
favorably upon the charge, ordered it to be copied in full so 
that it might serve for the guidance of other trial courts. In 
the case of Reuben Fitzgerald vs. the State, the court com- 
mended the charge in the same way, and so favorably 
was it received that Mr. Thompson, in his work on Trials, 
has set it out in full, as a model to be followed in similar 
cases. 

The services rendered to his state by Judge Nugent, not 
simply in the fair and just discrimination of the law while on 
the bench, but also in settling many complicated questions and 
inspiring confidence in the ability as well as the integrity of 
the bench, cannot be over estimated, and will be appreciated 
most highly by the profession in the years to come. 

The radical differences of opinion on political questions 
between Judge Nugent and myself never in any way affected 
our cordial relations, which continued to be not only pleasant, 
but of the most affectionate character, to the last. I do not 
think I ever had a more devoted friend; and it is a source of 
the very greatest pleasure to me to know that I was regarded 
by Judge Nugent as among his most cherished and particular 
friends. When I last savy him the shadow of death was upon 
him. He realized, as I did, that his end was near at hand; 
and when we parted, it was with the conviction in the mind 
of each of us that we should not meet again. It was under 
these circumstances that we separated with the most cordial 
expressions of regard for each other, and it will ever be a source 
of pleasure to me to recall the endearing expressions of confi- 
dence and esteem with which he bade me adieu. 

I was not surprised at his death, and I knew he would 
answer the summons, as I learn he did, with the Christian 
fortitude with which he met the trials of life. His example 
through life is worthy of emulation; and it can be truly said 
that no one was worse and that many were better for knowing 
him and understanding his pure, loving and lovable character. 
C. K. Bell, Member of Congress. 



80 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

JUDGE THOMAS L, NUGENT— A CHARACTER SKETCH, 

"His life was gentle; and the elements 
So mixed in him that nature might stand up 
And say to all the world, This was a man." 

There are two kinds of royalty. The one consists of a vis- 
ible crown, imperial robes and kingly scepter; the other of a 
regal mind, an imperial conscience and a kingly heart. The 
one is the royalty of blood, the other the royalty of manhood. 
The one is hereditary: the other, the gilt of God through Jesus 
Christ the Ideal Man. 

No amount of external royalty constitutes the true man. A 
great intellect, a great conscience, a great heart rooted and 
ground in great thoughts, great principles and great motives; 
grandeur and beneficence, majesty and sweetness, strength and 
purity — these are the elements of true greatness. And these 
were conspicuous in the life and character of Judge Thomas L,. 
Nugent. 

Some men are the slaves of the age in which they live. They 
impersonate its passions, are in bondage to its corruptions, and 
are obsequious to its summons. They worship at its shrine 
and inhale the incense of its flatteries. Some men are a burden 
to the age in which they live, with pampered pride and titled 
indolence. Still others are the curse of their day and genera- 
tion, subverting progress, and perverting truth. But there are 
men whose lives are cornucopias of blessings to their age. 
Such a man was the subject of this sketch. He seemed 
wholly redeemed from the slavery of selfishness, and raised to 
a divine, disinterested patriotism, philanthropy and love. True 
manhood was worn as a frontlet on his brow, beamed as a light 
from his countenance, shed a grace over his manners, gave the 
tones of sympathy to his voice, and energized his will to do and 
suffer for the good of his fellow men. He loved men, and 
nothing dear to human interests was a matter of indifference to 
him. Man was dear to him for his own .sake, not for the spot 
of earth on which he lived, nor for the language he spoke, nor 
for his rank in life, but for his humanity, for his spiritual 
nature, for the image of God in which he was made. There 
was in his manly breast an interest in human nature, a sym- 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 31 

pathy with human suffering and a sensibility to the abuses and 
evils which deform society, and a desire to see all his country- 
men rise to a better condition and to a higher virtue. 

He stood upon the world's broad threshold; wide 

The din of battle and of slaughter rose; 

He saw God stand upon the weaker side 

That sank in seeming loss before its foes; 

Many there were who made great haste and sold 

Unto the great enemy their swords, 

He scorned their gifts of fame, and power, and gold, 

And underneath their soft and flowery words. 

Heard the cold serpent hiss; therefore he went 

And humbly joined him to the weaker part. 

Fanatic named, and fool, yet well content 

So he could be the nearer to God's heart, 

And feel its solemn pulses sending blood 

Through all the widespread veins of endless good. 

He never asked ' 'What is popular?' ' but "What is right?' ' He 
was a man of great intellectual force and refinement of manner. 
He was charmingly versatile in conversation, and brilliant, and 
withal so natural and gentle that he drew men to him. To 
know him was both to admire and to love him. 

The character which secured such love it is not difficult to 
depict, because greatness is simple, artless, and lies open to 
every eye. It was his distinction that he united in himself 
those excellences which at first seem to repel each other, 
though in truth they are of one loving family. This union was 
so striking as to impress even those who did not enjoy his 
intimacy. For example, he was a man of lion heart, victorious 
over fear, gathering strength and animation from danger, and 
bound the faster to duty by its hardships and privations; and 
at the same time he was a child in simplicity, sweetness, inno- 
cence and benignity. His firmness had not the least alloy of 
roughness. His mien which could wear a stern decision was 
generally lighted up with a beautiful mildness ; and his voice, 
which expressed, when occasion required it, an inflexible will, 
was musical beyond expression. 

The union of his virtues seemed to give a singular harmony 
to his character. His well balanced mind was the admiration 
of his friends. He had strong feelings, yet a calm judgment; 



32 THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

an unwearied activity, without restlessness or precipitanc5^ He 
had vigor and freedom of thought, but not the slightest pro- 
pensity to rashness. He had professional ardor, but did not 
sacrifice to his profession the general improvement of his intel- 
lect and heart. He loved study, and equally loved society. 
He had religious sensibility, but a sensibility which never 
rested until it had found its true perfection and manifestation 
in practice. He believed in God as revealed in Jesus Christ 
the Divine Man. And he was not a man in whom such a 
belief could lie dead. This faith wrought in him powerfully. 
He was not satisfied with a superficial religion but was par- 
ticularly interested in those instructions from the pulpit which 
enjoined a deep, living, all pervading sense of God's presence 
and authority, and an intimate union of the mind with its 
Creator. In my frequent conversations with him on spiritual 
things he convinced me his religion was no less the delight of 
his heart than the guide of his life. He was calm, inquisitive, 
rational and unaffected by bigotry or fanaticism. That great 
maxim of Christianity, "No man liveth to himself," was 
engraven on his mind. Without profession, or show, or any 
striking discoveries of emotion, he felt the claim of every thing 
human on his sympathy and service. His professional engage- 
ments did not absolve him to his own conscience from laboring 
in the cause of mankind; and his steady zeal redeemed from 
business sufficient time for doing extensive good. In the 
institutions for useful objects with which he connected him- 
self, he gave more than his property: he contributed his mind, 
his judgment, his well-directed zeal; and the object which he 
was found to favor derived advantage from his sanction, no less 
than from his labors. His benevolence was singularly un- 
alloyed. Those feelings of unkindness which sometimes 
obscure for a moment the goodness of excellent men, seldom 
or never passed over him. Those who knew him cannot by 
any effort of imagination put an acrimonious speech into his 
lips. In his profession and on the hustings amidst the collisions 
of rivals, his ambition was so well controlled by his generosity 
and uprightness that he was never known to sully with an 
envious breath the honest fame of another, or to withhold a 
ready testimony to another's worth. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 33 

lu regard to his intellectual powers, they derived their supe- 
riority not only from the liberality of nature, but from the 
conscientiousness with which they were improved. He early 
felt the importance of a generous and extensive culture of the 
mind, and systematically connected with professional studies 
the pursuit of general literature. He was a striking example 
of the influence of an operative and enlightened moral sense 
over the intellect. His views were distinguished not so much 
by boldness and excursiveness as by clearness, steadiness, judi- 
ciousness and truth; and these characteristic properties of his 
understanding derived their strength, if not existence, from that 
fairness, rectitude, simplicity, and that love of the true and 
useful, which entered so largely in his moral constitution. The 
objects on which he thought and wrote offered themselves to 
him in the forms, dimensions and colors of reality. He was at 
once a scientific and practical lawyer, uniting comprehensive 
views of jurisprudence and laborious research into general 
principles with a singular accuracy and most conscientious 
fidelity in investigating the details of the causes committed 
to him. 

He was singularly independent in his judgments. He was 
not only uninfluenced by authority and numbers, and self- 
interest and popularity, but also by those he loved and most 
honored. But with all this firmness of judgment, .he never 
gave offense by positiveness, never challenged assent, never 
urged his convictions with unbecoming warmth, never in argu- 
ment passed the limits of the most delicate courtesy, and from 
reverence of others' rights he encouraged the freest expression 
of opinion however hostile to his own. 

His greatness was unpretending. He had no thought ot 
playing the part of a hero. His greatness was immeasurably 
above show, and above the arts by which inferior minds thrust 
themselves on notice. There was a singular union in his 
character, of self-respect and modesty, which brought out both 
these qualities in strong relief. He was just to himself with- 
out egotism, and too single-hearted and truthful to seek or 
accept flattery from others. He made no merit, nor did he 
talk of the sufferings which he had incurred by fidelity to 
principle. It was a part of his faith that the highest happi- 



34 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS E. NUGENT. 

ness is found in that force of love and lofty principle through 
which a man surrenders himself wholly to the cause of right 
and of man; and he proved the truth in his own experience. 
Though often disappointed, his spirit was buoyant, cheerful, 
overflowing with life, full of faith and hope, often sportive, 
and always open to the innocent pleasures which sprung in his 
path. 

He was singularly alive to the domestic affections. Who 
that saw him in the bosom of his family, can forget the deep 
sympathies and the overflowing joyousness of his spirit ? His 
home was pervaded by his love as by the sun's light. A 
stranger might have thought that his whole' soul centered 
there. In his own family, where one's personal qualities are 
obscured by no disguise, he was equally the object of reverence 
and love, and he laid the foundation for them in the propriety 
and gentleness of his own conduct. In the clamor of public 
duties, home never lost its charms; and he hailed his return to 
its peaceful shades as an asylum and refreshment from the con- 
flict and corrosion of public duty. His domestic fidelity was 
repaid by the reciprocal adoration of one of the noblest of 
women, and by the faithful love of fond children. 

He was a Swedenborgian in his faith; but many of the truths 
taught by this great Seer, are now accepted and incorporated 
in the creeds of the most orthodox churches. One of the sub- 
lime tenets of this faith which he was wont to magnify, and 
which is now emphasized from the pulpit of to-day, is, that the 
value of the future depends entirely up07i the value attached to 
to-day; there is no magic in the years to come; nothing can 
bloom in those fairer fields save that which is sown to-day. 
The great aim of Christianity is not to teach men the glory of 
the life to come, but the sacredness of the life that now is; not 
to make men imagine the beauty of heaven, but to make them 
realize the divinity of each; not to unveil the splendor of the 
Almighty, enthroned among the angels, but to reveal the deity 
of the man of Nazareth. 

Another tenet seemed also to afford him great pleasure: T/ie 
close ayialogy betwee7i the "world of nature and the world of spirit. 
It was upon this principle that Christ taught. Truths came 
from his lips, not stated simply on authority, but based on 



THK LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 35 

analogy of the universe. He discerned the connection of 
things, and read the Eternal Will in the simplest laws of 
nature. 

To Judge Nugent every natural object was resplendent with 
beauty, and every sound echoed harmony ; simple things 
became transfigured. In the hue of every violet he saw a 
glimpse of divine affection and a dream of heaven. The forests 
and fields blazed with deity, and he 

' ' Felt a Presence 
Which disturbed him with the joy 
Of elevated thoughts. ' ' 

And, now he has gone to his reward in that unseen, eternal 
world, of which he carried in his own breast a pledge so 
rich and earnest. He has gone to the fellowship of the Divine 
Man, whose spirit he so deeply comprehended, and so freely 
imbibed. 

But he is not wholly gone; not gone in heart, for I am sure 
that a better world has heightened, not extinguished, his 
affection for his race; and not gone in influence, for his 
thoughts remain in his works of love, and his memory is laid 
up as a sacred treasure in many minds. A spirit so rich and 
beautiful ought to multiply itself in those to whom it is made 
known. May we all be incited by it to a more grateful, cheer- 
ful love of God, and a serener, gentler, nobler love of our 
fellowmen. Rev. W. F. Packard. 



A TRIBUTE OF LOVE 

Fort Worth, Texas, March 22. 1896. 
Dear Mrs. Nugent: 

I would be pleased to have the biography of your honored 
husband contain the small meed of praise that I may be 
able to give. My intimate personal acquaintance with 
Judge T. L. Nugent began in November, 1893. On the first 
day of January, 1894, we formed a partnenship under the firm 
name of Nugent & Essex for the practice of law. This 
partnership was brought about by our mutual friend, Judge 



36 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS h. NUGENT. 

S Triplet!, and continued until JudgeNugent'sdeath. Others 
no doubt, have written of Judge Nugent as a lawyer and 
statesman. I wish to speak of his daily life and conduct as a 
citizen a friend, a man. Our partnership had contniued but a 
few days before I began to love him as I loved my father; and 
every day we were together this attachment grew stronger^ 
He was the most thoroughly honest man I was ever associated 
with He took the most consistent and logical view of life and 
death of any man I ever knew. He had but little use for the 
ostentatious show and parade of religion, so common in this day 
and age of the world, yet he had the profoundest respect for 
the humble Christian. I remember very well that on one 
occasion when we were both very busy in the office, some 
negroes stopped in the street just under our windows and began 
singing a religious song. I was disposed to feel disturbed, but 
he remarked in his usual calm manner, "I have the most 
profound respect for those people. They are certainly true 

Christians." . j j 

To use his own language, he was "thoroughly rooted and 
grounded in a belief in the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ." 
Life to him was not a race for riches, as it is to most of us, 
but a place in which to do all the good he could. He was 
entirely honest in the practice of his profession. He never 
resorted to strategy, chicanery, or unprofessional methods, 
either to procure business or in the trial of cases. It grieved 
him deeply to know that in some instances his brother lawyers 
had resorted to dark and shadowy methods to procure business 
and evidence in trials. Yet he never once made any attempt to 
retaUate. He never permitted his own clients, with his knowl- 
edge to attempt unfair dealings, and when he discovered that 
his opponents were guilty of them, he did not hesitate to expose 
them to the court and jury; and this exposure was generally so 
strong that the shady methods of his opponents were turned to 
their disadvantage. 

Judge Nugent was not only honest as a citizen and a lawyer, 
but he was honest as a politician. He thoroughly believed 
that the reforms he advocated were right and just. He did not 
think that the best way to get office was to advocate these re- 
forms. He did not advocate them for the purpose of securing 



THE UFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 37 

office or popularity. He did not resort to unfair methods in 
his political campaigns. During his last campaign he was 
approached by persons who opposed a certain religious sect 
and asked whether, if elected, he would appoint any of the 
members of that sect to office. He answered by delivering to 
the delegation one of the most profound lectures on the evils of 
uniting Church and State, and the tendency in that direction 
of the effiarts of one class of citizens to prevent another class 
from holding office because of their church faith. He closed by 
saying, that if he were elected, he would only consider the fit- 
ness of appointees for the duties they would be called on to 
perform. He did not engage in political controversies, as 
many politicians do. He took but little time to prepare his 
most profound addresses. His opening speech for the campaign 
in 1894 was prepared in the office in two days, and during that 
time he was subject to all the ordinary interruptions of a law 
office. His I^ampasas speech, delivered in the summer of 1895, 
was prepared in the office in less than two days, and during 
that time he was constantly interrupted. I do not think that 
he wrote out any other speeehes during the campaign of 1894, 
or after that time, although he delivered numerous addresses. 
Judge Nugent maintained the most admirable private con- 
duct of any man I ever knew. During the time we were 
together he gave the poorest as much attention and treated 
them with as much respect as he did the richest. No person 
was turned away from his office without advice because of 
poverty or inability to pay. He never became vexed or cross 
or ill-natured, as so many people do. During the time that 
his health was failing he was as careful of the feelings of others 
as he had been before. Never did a cross word escape his 
lips. He was one of God's true noblemen — true in every rela- 
tion of life. He was an indulgent husband, a kind and loving 
father. His only desire to accumulate this world's goods was 
that he might leave those dependent upon him comfortably 
situated. He talked as calmly of death as he did of making a 
trip to Stephen ville, his old home. Death, in his estimation, 
was simply laying aside the body with which the immortal 
part of man is encumbered. I do not believe that his ideas of 
Heaven were the same as those entertained by many of us. I 



38 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

do not think he expected to be ushered right up to the throne 
of God on the release of his soul from the body; but that the 
spirit, freed from earthl}^ limitations, would enter into an un- 
tramraeled life of higher activity and usefulness wherein the 
holy attributes of Divinity could be contemplated in more and 
more fullness as the soul grew in spiritvial knowledge. 

I was with him continually for about twenty hours just 
before the end came. His vocal organs were paralyzed and he 
could not articulate, but during his intervals of consciousness 
his countenance showed no fear nor remorse; but Divinity 
itself appeared to be pictured there. 

The end came without a struggle or the movement of a 
muscle. I closed his eyes in death with feelings of inexpress- 
ible sorrow and a solemn prayer to God that my life might be 
as blameless and my death as peaceful as his had been. 

W. S. Essex. 



' ' When beggars die, 
There are no comets seen; the heavens themselves 
Blaze forth the death of princes." 

Thus sang England's greatest poet, four hundred years ago, 
and as to poets it is often given to utter truths of heavenly 
things unknown to other men, we may believe, that on the 
night of the 15th of December, 1895, the heavens of the rejoic- 
ing angels blazed forth with the glorious light of welcome to a 
brother come home; for on that day a prince had been gathered 
to his fathers. 

This prince was not crowned and robed and sceptered with 
the vain pomps of earthly splendors. No royal retinue followed 
his footsteps as he walked our streets, sat at our table, deliber- 
ated in our council chambers, and held sweet intercourse with 
the people. No armed guards with glittering bayonets marched 
in front of him to prevent his assassination. No poor man 
trembled for his life as he approached. Little children did not 
run to the safe retreat of motherly arms as he passed them on 
the sidewalk. Laws for the uplifting of selfish wealth and 
impudence on the shoulders of honest toiling men can not be 
traced to him. He was a prince in the true sense of the word. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS h. NUGENT. 39 

Well might the heavens blaze forth the triumphant home 
going of such a man. And we cannot but think they did, for 
we know that in heaven the angels rejoice to hear the command 
to bring the soul of a good man to take possession of his man- 
sions on high. 

Another poet, less great, several hundred years ago, dc' 
scribed this uncrowned prince of ours in these words, 

" An honest man's the noblest work of God." 

While Scripture assures us that, " Precious in the sight of the 
Lord is the death of his saints. ' ' 

Protestantism has her saints, not canonized by pope and 
churchly authority, not wearing their lives away in prayers 
and penance within cloistered walls. These saints are walk- 
ing our streets, clad in the garb of ordinary people. They have 
their trials. They toil and work and suffer. Their crops fail, 
liresburn them out, slanders cut into their souls, death enters 
their homes and takes their loved ones. As far as the natural 
eye can discern, they wear no crown, and their heads are never 
encircled with a halo of light. They rule no realm save the 
hearts of the people. This, after all, is the everlasting king- 
dom. 

These saints, these princes, like the king's daughters of old, 
are all radiant within. Their hearts are full of faith in God. 
Their feet are treading the highway of holiness; while their 
heads are full of plans for the good of others and their hands 
busy carrying them out to the betterment of humanity. We 
do not call them saints. We do not see the glory on their 
brows; but God, who sees the heart, sees the honesty of 
purpose, the love for the suffering, the sympathy, justice — 
all the beautiful graces of Christian character, He sees them 
patient in trial, strong under temptation, noble in helpful- 
ness to their fellow creatures, generous to orphanage. He 
hears their wise counsel in political circles, hears their 
trembling prayers, listens to their cries of sorrow, and hears 
their song of triumph over sin. Truly blessed is the man 
whose hands are outstretched to the needy, whose eyes are 
turned upward to God, whose heart is ever open to the sorrow- 
ing. Our prince not only ac/ed but gave royally, as the 



40 THE LIFK WORK OK THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

orphans of our city can gladly testify. In the darkest hour in 
the history of the Benevolent Home, he came to the rescue, and 
with his influence aided in securing, through the County Com- 
missioner's Court, $100 monthly, to be applied to food, clothing 
and mothering the helpless and homeless waifs of Tarrant 
County. Surely he heard the still, small voice that Elijah 
heard, saying, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 
least of these my little ones, ye have done it unto me." " He 
that giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord." 

This prince of whom we speak was a great man, measured 
by God's standard, not by man's petty scales. A sad day it 
was for our city when Judge Nugent left us to. go to his re- 
ward. A kind husband and father, a wise counsellor in public 
affairs, a pure Christian, an all-around man, God loved him 
and took him to his eternal reward. 

Crowned and sceptered now, the new name on his brow, the 
new song on his lips, he lives in one of the many man- 
sions above, where he patiently waits the coming of his loved 
ones. 

When Jesus, the King of all Kingdoms, died, the sun hid 
his face and darkness veiled the scene. So was spread over 
nature the veil of night when our prince died. 

Mrs. Belle M. Burchill, 

President of the Tarrant County Benevolent Home. 



It will be to me a most mournful pleasure to bear testimony 
to the many noble and lovable qualities of Judge Nugent, 
whom I have for years regarded as one of the purest men and 
most valued and valuable citizens of Texas. Although I never 
enjoyed the privilege of his personal acquaintance until 1892, 
I had before that time known of him as a lawyer, judge and 
public-spirited citizen. It was at the time that I took charge 
of his campaign as candidate for the office of Governor of 
Texas, that I met him personally. During the summer and 
autumn of 1892 I was thrown frequently in his society, with 



THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 41 

opportunities of closely observing him and studying his char- 
acter, and I only do him justice when I say that the more I 
saw of him the more I respected and admired him. The fact 
is, his personality grew on those who were much in his 
society. 

My first impression of him was that he was hardly aggres- 
sive enough to be the leader of a reform party that must 
assume and maintain an offensive rather than a defensive atti- 
tude before the world. He was then in feeble health, and by 
reason of this fact, was indisposed to ver)' active and prolonged 
physical exertion. I soon discovered, however, that in a feeble 
body he had a strong spirit that gave to him unexpected power 
of endurance. I well remember that during the first sixty 
days of the campaign, which was not inaugurated until about 
the middle of August, he insisted upon being billed for speeches 
at not exceeding one appointment per week. And for the time 
it looked as if even that much party work was more than his 
feeble frame would bear up under. But as the campaign pro- 
gressed he rose to the demands of the situation, and week by 
week developed more and more strength, until during the 
month of October he was filling appointments nearly every 
day. And I mention now the remarkable fact, that during the 
last weeks of the campaign he spoke every day, and some days 
made two speeches. If he had been sustained by the belief 
that he was going to be elected, it would not have been so 
remarkable; but, as a matter of fact, he realized long before 
election day that he was leading a forlorn hope. His party 
was a new one, with little organization to begin with, and it 
lacked that confidence in its own cohesive power and strength 
that only years of co-operative work can bring to a party ; 
and Judge Nugent, who was frequently at party headquarters, 
was kept advised as to the party's prospects. He saw dis- 
integration going on as the result of the bitter contest then 
being waged over the State by the Hogg and Clark factions of 
the Democratic party, and the natural tendency of his own fol- 
lowers to re-identify themselves with one or the other of said 
factions, from which they had come to the People's party. I 
would not have been surprised had he weakened in spirit under 
such adverse conditions; but there were no such evidences. On 



42 



THK LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NLGKST. 



the contrary, as the necessity for efforts be.ng »f ^^ '° t-o'd h 
party in line developed, his spirit rose to it and I =^all ne^er 
forget how grandly he kept up the struggle m the face of mev 
^ ble defeal Most men can fight vigorously and effective^ 
when they feel that their efforts are going to be crowned with 
™c ory but how few are capable of really heroic efforts when 
"h incentive is urging them? Judge Nugent, however 
^id have an incentive to efFort-the consciousness tha no figh 
entirely for principle can ever be absolutely nnavading He 
knew that he could not be elected Governor of Texas in 1892 
bu he also knew that the battle of 1892 was only the initiatory 
skLish which was to bring on and develop '^e gr-^. S^™- 
battle for human rights that is yet being fought in the Un ted 
states He frequently discussed this thought with me and w ith 
o hers about our party headquarters; and though success in a 
par . sense was not then in sight, he insisted that it would y 
bficured He has not lived to see it. and to share ,n its 
results but if it is vouchsafed to him in the next world to keep 
rttch with the events that are maturing in this he sees now 
in a stronger light than living mortals can enjoy that his great 
work in f 892 and in 1894, when he again led the fight m 
Texas is to be crowned with a glorious victory. 

In ^he formative period of new political parties there has 
always been an element of weakness to which attention cannot 
te too often called; men with hobbies who have failed of recog- 
n^t on in the older parties, and who have seized on any sort of 
nomic" agitation to further their own views, have frequentU 
?n able to assume the leadership of the different branches o 
the party and the People's party bears no exception to the 
™te While no new party in this country has ever had so 
ate a percentage of conser^-ative. unselfish and zealous lead- 
ers t has had to contend with the nsnal number of crai-U. 

Tud.e Nugent was essentially a conservative man and t he 
, jfrlverse of a crank. And to this fact I attnbute largely 
h fu her fact, that as the People's party of Texas developed^ 
conln-atism became one of its marked characteristics. He 
strongly impressed his individuality upon its character; and 
Tday it stands well to the front as the ^e^t representative on 
his continent of well-balanced conservatism and zealous 



TEE LITE ^VOKJS: OF THOMAS L. NTGEXT. 43 

patriotism, with but little, if anv, of the impetnosity and want 
of morale that so often characterizes new political organizations. 
I congratulate the party that it had for its leader for so many 
years, one so fully up to the demands of the times as Judge 
Nugent was. I congratulate the people of Texas generally 
that the party which, as all things seem to indicate, is soon to 
assume control of their governmental interests had its first and 
best inspirations from one so competent to give them. 

Judge Nugent, while not dogmatic in his views, was tena^ 
dous of them, and had a quiet way of impressing them on 
others that indicated the latent strength of his character. He 
did not jump at conclusions, but reached them as the result ol 
careful, painstaking search for them; and he was rarely at fault 
in them. Hence it is, he did not 3-ield them readily at the sug- 
gestion of even his most trusted party friends and associates. 
More than this, he had the courage of his convictions; and the 
Populists of Texas, who have been most closely identified with 
the party work and with him as one of its workers, will not 
soon forget that he did not permit his personal friendships to 
come between him and his dut\- to his party, which he held to 
be synonymous with his duty to his state and his nation. If 
the party is to-day well grounded on the eternal principles that 
should constitute the true basis for civil government, no one 
has been more instrumental than he in putting it in so advan- 
tageous a position. Yet he was in no sense of the term, a 
practical politician, I believe I never knew a man so active in 
party politics who cared, or thought, less of methods than he. 
With him. the grand central thought was: * ' Is the measure 
proposed right ? And does it promise good to the people ? ' ' 
If his judgment and heart answered in the affirmative, that 
settled the policy of the party as far as he could control it; but 
if, on the other hand, he determined that it was not right, I am 
convinced that no power on earth could have infiuenced him to 
advocate it. 

Though inclined to "call a spade a spade," Judge Nugent 
was not given to the use of harsh language. No one, I ven- 
ture to say, ever heard him give utterance to a word that could 
not have been said with propriety in the presence of any pure 
woman. He abhorred anjthing like profanity, and his detes- 



44 THK I.IFP: WORK OF" THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

tation of obscenity, even by implication, was deep-rooted and 
pronounced. His habit of indulging in kindly language was 
due to the fact that he felt kindly toward all and wished them 
the best things attainable. It would have been doing vio- 
lence to his own feelings had he indulged in uncharitable 
remarks about any one. Indeed, it may be said of him, " He 
loved his fellowmen." H. L. Bentley. 



A man of modern times, in equipoi.se of all his faculties and 
functions, mental and moral, has never been more perfect than 
was manifest and existing in fact in the personality of the late 
Thomas L. Nugent. 

There were those who were closer to him, in near friendship, 
and more intimate with him, in the inner social life, than I, 
but I knew him in many and important relations of life. 

I knew him when he was comparatively young, as a school 
teacher, in the city of Austin. My own sons were instructed 
by him. Taking his character from them, supplemented by 
my own knowledge of him, he, then, was a man who drew to 
himself the love and confidence of others, the mature and the 
young, as naturally and abundantl}'^ as the dews descend from 
heaven. 

I knew him as a lawyer. He was ever ready, courteous and 
guided by the highest and purest ethics of the profession. 
Doubt or distru.st of his honor, good faith and perfect loyalty, 
to the law and to his clients, was never connected with his 
name. 

I knew him as a public man, put forward (and leadership 
was natural to him) , to represent the reform movement, looking 
to the good of the whole country — of all men, but more particu- 
larly to lift the burdens and oppressions from the shoulders of 
the great common people. In that relation, he was indeed a 
father, a general and a guide, who had the love, admiration and 
almost the veneration of those who looked to him and his brave 
co-adjutors, for deliverance. 

I knew him as a Judge — he was impartial and just. He was 
an honest Judge. He tempered the rigor of the law with 



The lifk work of thomas l. nugknt. 45 

mercy, at all times, when the performance of his duty would 
allow. 

I knew him as a Christian gentlemen. He loved God and 
obeyed his commandments, as nearly as the frailties of humanity 
would permit. 

I knew him as a man. He loved his fellow men, sympa- 
thized with all human suffering, befriended the weak and 
friendless and restrained the evil passions of the strong where 
he had the influence or power. 

I have known him, when surrounded by the most exasperating 
circumstances, which, with ordinary men, call forth outbreaks 
of temper and even actual violence, to stand calm, dignified, 
deliberate and let the waves of wrong-doing beat themselves 
into quiet. 

Conservatism and wisdom governed him, and they made of 
him a model, which, patterned after by the generation now going 
into maturity, would change the face of society and elevate the 
tone of mankind. 

He was my friend and I loved him and now revere his 
memory. His life and character have been and are a benedic- 
tion to me. W. M. Wai^ton. 



"THOUGH DEAD. YET HE LIVETH," 

To the history of our great State, replete with the deeds of 
martyrs, who have planted in agony of soul and with their 
lives the seeds from which posterity shall reap the harvest of a 
better time, and glowing with tributes to her patriots before 
whom the world bows in homage, is being added to-day a new 
page, bearing the name of a statesman than whom none can 
claim a nobler heritage in the annals of fame. As seen in the 
home, the daily walk, upon the rostrum, the high and fine im- 
pulses of a great soul have made the name of Thomas I^. 
Nugent a household word— a synonym of love. 

But few become positive forces in moulding civilization. Few 
are able to influence and contribute to the development of our 
national and individual life as did this great character we are 
called upon to mourn. With unfaltering courage and single- 



46 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

ness of purpose, this apostle of liberty marched on to " dutr," 
and his life has erected in the hearts of his countrymen a 
monument to his own memory. No sculptured marble is 
needed to blazon his name. A mighty throng of workers 
whom he has left behind are living monuments of it, and they 
are sending his influence through the sociology of the present 
in which works the leaven that is to mould the glad to-morrow 
of a free and happy people. We are consoled to know that 
this eminent servant of the truth stood not alone in his work 
for humanity, for one worthy the place was a co-worker at his 
side It is consoling to know that they were spared to see 
some of the principles to which they were devoted established 
The domestic life of this couple, whose standard was that of 
absolute equality of husband and wife, was an exquisite song, 
a veritable love poem, fraught with the sweetness and tender- 
ness of an ideal union, whose rhythmic chords were not cal- 
culated to beat in harmony with the order of domestic infelicity 
in which the man is the ruler, the woman the subject. 

Love honor and gratitude are the responsive impulses which 
this grlcious memory inspires. His death has touched our 
hearts with a feeling of individual loss. We cannot better 
serve and cherish the name of our noble leader than to clasp 
hands and work to bring to victory the cause he loved so well; 
for he is with us in spirit and in memory to cheer us on in the 
divine work of lifting men and women into right relations with 
each other and with God. Alice McAnulty. 



Mr. Rhodes, of Van Zandt, placed in nomination the Hon. 
T L Nu^'-ent, of Fort Worth. He spoke as follows: 

" "It is wUh a great deal of pleasure that I rise to place in nomi- 
nation a candidate for the United States Senate who I believe to 
be worthy of the highest office within the gift of the house, and 
who is the peer of any man in our beloved state. He is a man 
whose name has become a household word in this state and a 
man who has risen above the conditions which environ his life. 
His life is as pure as the driven snow; a man in whom his 



THE LIFR WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 47 

political enemies repose the utmost confidence, one of God's 
noblemen whose life work has been to raise the fallen, to lift 
the yoke from the neck of the oppressed, to extend a helping 
hand to the downtrodden, to encourage those without hope and 
to plead the cause of the disinherited millions of the earth. In- 
justice he opposed, poverty he sought to alleviate, the helpless 
he strove to protect. He has never asked the question whether 
his course was popular or not, but like the brave and courage- 
ous man that he is, he has espoused the cause of the victims of 
inj ustice and carried the fight into the camp of the enemy. For 
four years he has been leader of the minority, and when defeat 
stared him in the face has breasted the storm of a brutal majority 
and fought for what he believed to be right. In this state he 
has been the Moses of those who cherish a better hope, and from 
the field and workshop have come forth 160,000 brave spirits 
who cast their votes for him, believing in his honesty and in- 
tegrity as a statesman, patriot and philosopher. While I know 
he is in the minority in this house and that political prejudice 
and party will cause his defeat, the minority have the consola- 
tion to know that when their vote is cast for him we do so in 
the interests of those who suffer from injustice and legalized 
robbery, in the interests of the producing classes, among^'whom 
IS ever found patriotism and virtue. The man of whom I speak 
is not only a credit to the minority, but he is a credit to the 
State of Texas, and one whom the people may be proud of 
irrespective of his political affiliations. Should he be elected 
to the Senate of the United States I feel assured that he will 
never forsake the principles which he has carried on his banner 
before the people of Texas. We are assured that the glitter of 
wealth nor the storms of time can move him from these prin- 
ciples which he advocates for the temporal redemption of the 
race. In these days of concentrated wealth, heartless monop- 
olies that possess no souls and no responsibilities in eternity 
when the lamentations and tears of the great common people', 
the sheet anchor of our civilization, come up from every in- 
dustrial center of the republic, it is meet that those should be 
entrusted with position who love and sympathize with the 
unfortunate masses and who believe in no special privileges but 



48 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

in giving justice to all, to every citizen his own. But there 
must be martyrs for every great cause. 

"While humanity sweeps onward, 

While to the martyr's strand 
Tomorrow crouches Judas 

With the silver in his hand, 
While in the distant future 

The cross stands ready 
And the crackling faggots burn, 

The hooting mob of yesterday 
In silent awe return 

To glean up the sacred ashes 
Into history's golden urn." 

But this man represents a cause that neither A'^'"';^* "f 
coroorate kings nor Ireartless opposition of modern Shylocks 
cXfrthrow. It is like the breaking loose of pent up waters 
and there floats upon the currentof this great movement, repre- 
seld by this mal 160,000 thinking and toiling sovere.gns^ 
It may be truly said of him that he is the sage of Texas and 
onHf the greatest political philosophers of modern times, who 
; sles th'e courage to lay ambition upon P-er^i'^^'- ^^^ 
™»ke a nolitical sacrihce for the good of his fellow man. 1 ne 
Tus^ he^ p esents shall never perish from the earth but be a 
cW by day and a pillar of fire by night to lead the race out 
oftapohtical thralldom, and the footprints of tune will record 
UsorLess until ultimate success shall crown the efforts of 
Ich men - I present to this house - a candidate for the 
TT > .1 qtates Senate Year after year may take its tligt t, 
"y aft^ ct^mry may pass into oblivion, but popuh^t 
nrtaciples will never perish, and in the years to come "ley ™ 
Te a proud monument to the glory of him who has stood 
sL^fa't and fought heartless oppre^iom Gentlemen 

^XZ^'l r ';;:ce«t:-Lt;aJ^oTL the Umted 

States Senate."— /^^//'^^ ^'?«'^- 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 49 



Anecdotes and Reminiscences. 

Fort Worth, Texas, February 28, 1896. 
On a balmy June day in 188(3, I found myself a passenger 
aboard an old, ramshackle vehicle called the " Palo Pinto 
stage." After various and sundry packages had found safe 
stowaway beneath seat and in boot, the lash was plied upon 
two Texas bronchos— our motive power— and we were fast 
receding from the screech and scream of the energy pulsating 
along one of the arteries of modern commerce. For fifteen 
miles our way lay o'er hill and valley. Suddenly there burst 
upon the vision Palo Pinto's capital, nestling close to the 
sides of the mountains that stand with Sphinx like countenances 
as watchful monitors of the little valley at their feet. The 
quaint old village was suggestive of indolence and loquacity. 
The purpling smoke that curled from the chimney tops 
freighted the air with the fragrance of burning cedar. Hill 
and vale were garnished with its ever-green foliage. The 
sluggish Brazos, channelling its pathway through mountain 
fastness and sandy lowland, reached out its sinuous arms as if 
to enfold in its amorous embrace the sleepy village. 

The wily villagers, as the iron arm of advancing civilization 
pushing its westward course was forced by natural causes to 
deflect from their peaceful valley, apprehensive of the future, 
hastened to build a temple of justice out of due proportion to 
the demands of the people, trusting that through its instru- 
mentality their ancient glory might still abide with them and 
not depart to ambitious rivals. The subject of this sketch was 
the ministering priest of this pretentious temple and presided 
at its altar. Nugent was then a stranger to me. My partner 
and I had a case of great importance pending before him and, 
naturally, I wi.shed to see and form the acquaintance of the 
man who would soon preside over its destiny. I entered the 



50 THE LIFE WORK OE THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

inner court of the temple to find a man of a mild face, of a pre- 
eminent mental temperament, possessed of a rare dome of 
thought, blue-grey eyes, a firm mouth, strong chin, large ven- 
eration and an abundance of spirituality. An introduction fol- 
lowed. The kindly grasp of the hand reassured me and I felt 
that I had read him right. I then knew that the scales of jus- 
tice would be nicely balanced and poised by a master hand. 

We had awakened the slumbering ire of the villagers by the 
levy of a writ of attachment upon the merchandise of a fellow- 
citizen and were justly apprehensive of results. Our case was 
finally reached and entered upon. Against us were pitted some 
of the ablest lawyers of the Judge's district, as well as others. 
The pleadings were voluminous, and the issue in many respects 
intricate. In the disposition of the preliminary questions and 
the issues of law, the ease and certainty with which Judge 
Nugent made his rulings impressed me— then a comparatively 
young man— profoundly with the depth of his mmd and the 
sweep of his comprehension. Questions of moment were dis- 
posed of by him without apparent effort, upon mere suggestion. 
The second place of chief importance in the little village was 
the tavern where congregated the officers of Court, the travel- 
ing lawyers, the village doctor and the village wit and beauty. 
It was rudely constructed though most hospitable. Its table 
was generously burthened with good cheer and around it 
gathered this coterie. It was the Judge's invariable custom 
Hfter the evening repast to rest the physical, and recuperate the 
mental man by a tramp of more or less extended length. Never 
selfish 'he usually invited some of the lawyers to accompany 
him 'it was my good fortune always to be embraced in this 
invitation The mellow atmosphere of the summer evenings 
perfumed with the breath of cedar seemed to render us more 
congenial I soon found him a kindred spirit, broad and lib- 
eral in his notions and a profound student of nature. Our 
trial lasted for nearly a week and was terminated to the ap- 
parent satisfaction of all concerned. The contest was sharp, 
the issues weighty, and the testimony of that character calcu- 
lated to arouse the controversial spirit; yet, amidst all the con- 
flict Nugent sat serene and unruffled, and, by his gentle admo- 
i^itions and repressive suggestions, all parties, lawyers, pnnci- 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS h. NUGENT. 61 

pals and witnesses, maintained gentlemanly and considerate 
relations toward each other. I found him very different from 
the ordinary administrator of justice who so often, in the little- 
ness of his imagined greatness, builds a wall around himself 
and digs a moat across which the lawyer may not pass, imagin- 
ing that the purity of his ermine must necessarily shine the 
more resplendent by reason of his stilted and environed posi- 
tion. Questions of law arose in our case that were freely dis- 
cussed with him by us on those evening rambles. I have no 
doubt but that in the hush and quiet of the evening, when our 
minds were placid and receptive, we solved the questions 
much more accurately than we could have done during the heat 
and contest of debate. This was the beginning of an acquaint- 
ance that lasted and ripened, during which I frequently found 
him discussing questions of law with the lawyers who had 
charge of cases to be tried before him. Speaking of this mat- 
ter, on one occasion he said to me, " I have never hesitated to 
discuss matters of law with the lawyers in the cases that I try 
Some judges imagine that it is a breach of ethics, on the con- 
trary, I believe it is right, and I have never hesitated to avail 
myself of whatever information and learning they possess It 
IS but natural that their minds are actively engaged in thought 
on their cases, that they have investigated more or less and 
from whom should I receive so much information as from them 
and how could I better assimilate it than to have had it in 
mind and thought over it myself ? I never felt that I was sus- 
ceptible to bias from such discussion, and I know that on many 
occasions both lawyers and myself received new ideas and bet- 
ter applied the propositions of law. ' ' 

Our friendship drew closer with the lapse of time and finally 
culminated in a professional partnership when Judge Nu^rent 
came to Fort Worth in 1891. It is the humble opinion of'the 
writer, after long personal relation with Judge Nugent and 
after having been associated with him in the discussion and trial 
of important cases, that he had no equal as a lawyer in the 
state at the time of his death. As a trial judge, the writer has 
never had the opportunity of witnessing his superior. To the 
bar, to the litigants, to the witnesses and the jurors, he was 
ever courteous, gentlemanly and kind. The younger members 



52 THE LIFE WORK OV THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

of the bar that grew up, so to speak, i!i Nugent' s district hold 
him in the kindliest remembrance. While never swerving 
from the path of duty as judge, he carefully protected them 
from the superiority of their elder adversaries. Many a new 
trial was granted by him in order to save the rights of some 
litigant too trustful and confiding in the ability of his youthful 
advocate. 

Judge Nugent was a master of the English language. His 
splendid education and natural endowments of language and 
logic fitted him to perform with distinguished ability the oner- 
ous task that falls to the lot of a trial judge; a task that so few 
are able to perform — the clear separation of the law from the 
facts on the trial of a case, and the intelligent presentation to 
the jury of the law so separated from the facts as to enable it 
to understandingly determine the issue. 

His charges are models of English composition. He was as 
incapable of committing an error in grammar as an error in 
logic. Nature had given him that mechanical turn of mind 
that made his writing as beautiful as copper-plate. 

In recognition of the masterly ability of Judge Nugent, the 
beauty of his style and the clear analysis of his propositions. 
Judge Thompson, in his great work on Trials, quotes two of 
his charges as models. The compliment was a graceful one in 
view of the fact that they were strangers to each other save as 
kindred spirits. So far as the writer knows, no other trial 
judge was so dignified by that eminent commentator. As a 
lawyer and a judge. Judge Nugent closely approached great- 
ness in its true sense. His clear mind went unerringly to the 
point in every case. He knew no cross cuts. There was 
nothing little in his mind and in his conduct toward his 
brothers. He was a stranger to the so-called tricks and quirks 
of the law. To him the law was the embodiment of human 
wisdom, the crystallized experience of the ages adapted to the 
government and regulation of human affairs. To him it was a 
beautiful priestess endowed with infinite wisdom, whose 
righteous judgments were rendered with parsimonious hand, 
and he a simple minister in the temple, yielding the oil of his 
wisdom upon the shrine of its accomplishment. In the forensic 
conflict, he was a tower of strength to the side he championed. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 53 

His splendid qualities of mind shone most brilliantly in a legal 
argument. His logic was often too powerful and subtle for a 
jury, yet juries followed him, because they believed in his 
personality, because they believed in his integrity, and because 
they knew that Judge Nugent never lent himself, professionally 
or otherwise, to the perpetration of a wrong. To a witness 
who sought to tell the truth, he was kind and gentle, but to 
one who faltered he was as fierce as a Damascus blade wielded 
by desert Bedouin. 

Nugent's qualifications and natural endowments fitted him 
in an eminent degree to have adorned the bench of last resort 
His ambition led him thitherward, but political harlotry was 
the biting frost that nipped ambition's flower. Had his laud- 
able ambition been gratified, the luster of the bench would 
have been richer, but humanity would have been poorer. 
Destiny had purposed him as the instrument to perform a 
grander and nobler work than simply to deal in the narrow 
analysis of dry precedent. Nature had fitted him for a nobler 
office and did not intend to be thwarted in her design. 

Judge Nugent recognized in an eminent degree that primal 
law of nature, "the survival of the fittest." He recognized 
that much of so-called genius is the ability of labor, the result 
of careful and conscientious effort. He was a student in the 
broad and comprehensive sense of the term. The light of his 
splendid intellect was not turned solely upon the too often con- 
sidered dull and lifeless pages of the law. He recognized that 
the law IS simply the outgrowth, the crystallization of human 
eff-ort, yet ill-fitted to meet the needs and varying conditions of 
humanity. He recognized most abundantly, that in the uni- 
versality of its application it is painfully deficient and imper- 
fect to reach individual cases; yet he treated it as a jealous 
mistress, yielded assiduous labor and investigation to its minis- 
trations, and contributed his quota of experience and effort to 
its perfection and adaptation to human needs. The law was 
more than a means of subsistence to him. It was a science 
which he endeavored to harmonize with the philosophy of 
life, with the intellectual development of the people upon 
whom it should bear. His studious nature embraced every 
domain of human thought. I^ife, its origin, growth and devel- 



64 THK tIFE WORK OF THOMAS L, NUGENT. 

opment, challenged his closest investigation and warmest 
admiration. As a student of nature he drank deep from her 
perennial springs, penetrated her inmost recesses in investiga- 
tion and thought, recognized himself as her kinsman and but 
the expression of her unvarying and inevitable laws and builded 
all the philosophy of life upon the theory of her evolutionary 
processes. He was naturally a philosopher and as such he as 
naturally and as inevitably grew out of the thrall of the narrow 
conformist to creedal theology with which his early mind was 
tethered, as the ungainly grub evolves into the beautiful winged 
insect, kissing the shimmering rays of the glittering summer 
sun with its tinted spots of radiant beauty. And never did 
sportive bird or soaring eagle revel in untrammeled freedom 
more than did Judge Nugent when the shackles were loosed and 
the pinions of his soul fluttered in the magnificent sweep of 
mental liberty. He worshipped at the shrine of the pure, the 
beautiful and the noble. He believed in the brotherhood of 
humanity. He paused in wondering admiration at nature and 
nature's God, in the contemplation of the human ego, that 
mysterious entity that thinks. 

In the latter days of his life, he adopted the golden rule as 
the highest type of human action and as the noblest senti- 
ment ever uttered by God or man. His belief in the in- 
destructibility of all life, and necessarily in the immortality of 
the human soul, was unyielding. In his domestic life, the 
.sweetness and purity of his nature found its highest expression. 
In his social intercourse with other men he treated them as 
brothers — as though each were struggling for the attainment of 
a higher ideal. Of the arts of money-making he knew but 
little. The loftiness of his character and the purity of life 
which I vainly try to depict and the accumulation of money 
are incongruous elements. The quickness of his enlightened 
and cultured conscience led him to profoundly sympathize with 
the environed condition of his fellows that enabled some at the 
expense of the many to absorb to their selfish natures the 
product and toil of the o'erlabored. He felt their burthens 
and was weighted down with their sorrows. The cold waves 
of selfishness and sordid greed beat upon his tender and sen- 
sitive nature until it burst the prison bars of conservatism, and 



THE LIFE WOKK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 55 

forced, against his personal desires, he espoused the cause of 
the oppressed and gave it dignity by his splendid leadership. 
He rent the lacings of partisan Democracy, because, in his 
opinion, it had degenerated into an organized oligarchy — into a 
machine for the personal and political aggrandizement of the 
few and for the sacrifice of the rights and liberties of the people 
to the god of mammon and corruption. Many of what may 
be called the Utopian visions of the Populist party he did not 
subscribe to, but it was a revolt against so-called Democracy — 
against organized institutions. It was a protest that swept the 
political atmosphere with the mightiness of a cyclone. It 
threatened the dismemberment of parties, aroused and quick- 
ened the laggard and awakened the American people to the 
danger of their liberties. As a canvasser, during two cam- 
paigns he had no equal. None of the opposite political faith 
dared draw a sword with the great reformer in open field. 
Nugent strode forth in the might of his convictions like the 
panoplied knight in defense of fireside, country and liberty. 
Never was the cringing hypocrisy of political marplots so pil- 
loried, so unmasked, so impaled. The highest encomium that 
can be paid him is, that during those memorable contests no 
single attack was made upon his private character. Not that 
the malevolent spirit was absent in his adversaries, but that 
there was no crevice where it could find entrance. 

Judge Nugent was a worshiper of truth alone. He knew 
she is many sided and can only be discovered by patient effort. 
He knew she is elusive, even to her devotees, and that he who 
would be her apostle must fall into the pitfalls of error and 
tread the wine press of disappointment, as well as be the 
recipient of the derisive sneer of the self-righteous. He knew 
that in the discovery of her regal beauties the swamps of 
superstition have to be penetrated, the noxious miasms of 
bigotry have to be fearlessly assaulted in their turreted citadels 
with her spear and shield. He knew that falsehood often 
snatches a garland from the brow of truth and masquerades as 
her embodiment. He knew that error stalks abroad assuming 
her guise and deceiving the unwary wight. He knew that so 
feeble and flickering is the flame that burns on the altar of 
truth to human comprehension that it requires a hero to 



56 THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS h. NUGKNT. 

be her champion, and such was he. Convinced of a truth, he 
was as gentle as a woman in its assertion, but as firm as ada- 
mant in his conviction. The winds of superstition and error 
might blow mighty blasts, might hurl mighty anathemas at her 
queenly shrine; but Nugent, like the cedars of Lebanon, stood 
rooted in the rock of honest conviction. He knew that his ex- 
perience had garnered a fruitage fragrant with the sweet 
breath of Spring, golden with the kisses of mid-summer and 
purpled with the tints of ripening Autumn. He knew that in 
the web and woof of his soul he had woven the rippling laugh- 
ter of children, the smiles of women and the applause of his 
countrymen. 

Nugent died as he lived, a man. He approached his disso- 
lution with the confidence of a child resting upon its mother's 
bosom. He knew it was a simple result of natural law — a 
rounding of the bend heavenward on the river of life; that the 
finger that had written upon the face of all nature "pro- 
gression" had likewise traced that talismanic word upon his 
soul; that 

" Dust thou art, to dust returnest, 
Was not written of the soul." 

In the darkness of our loss has arisen the resplendent soul, 
luminous in the reftilgence of its glory, freighted with the 
needs of humanity, tireless in the opening domain of its 
enlarged possibilities, and swift to continue the wage of battle 
so boldly gauged. 

The world is better that he lived, society poorer that we have 
not his daily exarrtple, life more hopeful and trustful in 
nature's divine laws. Peace to his ashes ! 

John \V. Wray. 

* :[; * 

It is difficult to say anything that will convey to the minds 
of those who never knew Judge Nugent personally, an adequate 
idea of his true worth and his patriotism and love for the great 
common people. Dttring our acquaintance, it was my fortune 
to spend many pleasant and profitable hours in private conver- 
sation with that great and good man. I never knew him to 



the; ufs work of thomas l. nugent. 57 

speak evil of any one without prefacing or amending his re- 
marks by, ' ' I hope I am misinformed, ' ' I have sat for hours 
and listened to him pouring out his soul in pleadings for 
humanity. 

Enthusiastic writers have heralded to the world thousands 
of men who were pigmies in intellect, in manhood and in noble- 
ness of spirit when compared with the subject of this sketch. 
The world has its Cromwells, its Emmetts, its Washingtons, 
and its Lincolns. By their deeds they revolutionized, de- 
stroyed and built empires, kingdoms and republics. Thomas 
ly. Nugent did none of these things in his lifetime; yet his 
great and indomitable spirit still goes marching on, moulding 
and shaping the destinies of his countrymen. He is dead, j^et 
liveth in the hearts and minds of the people. He devoted his 
life to their cause. He lived his own life out for them. I 
have often heard him remark, with his great soul beaming 
through his eyes, " If I could .secure for the common people 
equal rights and privileges at Nature's storehouse, and leave 
them as happy and contented as common justice would dictate, 
by giving up my life, I would cheerfully do it," 

The great end of government, he always claimed, is to re- 
press all wrong; and its highest function is to protect the 
weak against the powerful; so that the most obscure human 
being may enjoy the products of his labor in peace. He 
believed that every man, not only has a right but it is his duty, 
to exercise his intellect; and he believed that a government, or 
corporation, or individual that obstructs or quenches the intel- 
lectual life of another commits a crime and inflicts a grievous 
and irreparable wrong. He believed that every man has a 
right to use the means given by God and sanctioned by virtue, 
for bettering his condition and being respected according to his 
moral worth — a right to be regarded as a member of the com- 
munity to which he belongs, and to be protected by impartial 
laws — a right to be exempted from coercion and punishment as 
long as he respects the rights of others. 

One afternoon during the campaign of 1894, Judge Nugent 
called at my office to talk over the outlook, I saw at once 
there was a heavy burden on his mind. He had just returned 
from a campaign tour. Speaking of the election frauds and 



68 THE UFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

injustice done the people by demagogues and political trick- 
sters, his very soul seemed on fire and his eyes sparkled with 
earnestness as he spoke like one inspired. I never saw so 
much feeling, clothed as it were with words and thrown into 
language, as fell from his lips on that occasion. He walked the 
floor as he talked and all present were visibly affected. I cannot 
quote his exact language, but what he said and the way he said 
it made a lasting impression upon my mind. It was about this: 

"What are human rights? They may all be comprised in 
the right which belongs to every rational being — the right to 
exercise his powers for the promotion of his own and others', 
happiness and virtue. This is the great fundamental purpose 
of his existence. For this his powers are given him, and to this 
he is bound to devote them. He is bound to make himself and 
others better and happier, according to his ability. His ability 
for the work is a sacred trust from God — the greatest of all 
trusts. He alone must answer for the waste or abuse of it. 
He, consequently, who is stripped of it by others, or is forbid- 
den to employ it for the end for which it was given — when the 
powers which God has given for such generous uses are im- 
paired or destroyed by others, or the means for their action and 
growth are forcibly withheld — suffers an unspeakable wrong. 

As every human being is bound to employ his faculties for 
his own and others' good, there is an obligation on each to leave 
all free for the accomplishment of this end; and whoever re- 
spects this obligation, who ever uses his own without invading 
others' duties, has a sacred, indefeasible right to be unassailed, 
unobstructed, and unharmed by all with whom he may be 
connected." 

Resuming his seat, he pulled his chair up to the front of his 
small but appreciative audience, and throwing his whole soul 
into his remarks, said: " Gentlemen, here is the grand, all- 
comprehending right of human nature. Every man should 
revere it, should assert it for himself and for all, and should 
bear solemn testimony against every infraction of it, by whom- 
soever made or endured." 

The hearts of the great common people, knowing his unself- 
ish and gentle spirit, realized what a friend they had in Judge 
Nugent. He lived for them, he sacrificed his life for them. He 



The tiF*E WORK of THOMAS t. NUGENT, 59 

studied the problem of human rights from every standpoint. 
He placed labor and capital, the corporation and the individual, 
side by side, and declared boldly what his conscience dictated 
as equity. He was not a politician and never allowed policy 
to come between himself and right. He was a Populist in the 
true sense of the word. He was a people's man. Sometimes 
in his speeches he would utter a thought in advance of the 
times, but would always add, ' ' That is Thomas L. Nugent," 
that it might not be charged to the party. 

Judge Nugent had devoted so much of his time to the study 
of economic questions and had weighed with such a careful 
mind and considerate heart the conditions of the people, that 
he had outstripped his fellowmen and was living far beyond 
his age which could not reach out and keep pace with his great 
and anxious soul in the battle for humanity that he was so 
bravely fighting. Shortly before his last illness, he was present 
at a meeting of the State Executive Committee of the People's 
party and made a talk of twenty minutes. He spoke with 
wonderful power. All present, who had frequently heard him, 
declared it the best effort of his life. Some of his remarks were 
criticised, yet, in a few months, conditions adjusted themselves 
to the point he made in that brief talk, demonstrating that he 
was not only a statesman, but a prophet. 

The Judge was as modest as he was great and would never 
permit any one to call him a leader. He always said that he 
never aspired to anything higher than to be one of the people, 
and to be used for the good of all. He was the same gentle, 
unassuming man abroad and at home. He came as near living 
up to the Golden Rule as is possible in this life, and his dying 
words, "I have tried to do my duty," were as true as ever 
uttered by mortal man. He did not live in nor for the present 
alone. He believed that every life has a Divine mission. 

In 1883, while on the bench, he wrote his wife from Palo 
Pinto, and after enumerating some of the privations he had to 
undergo in that Western country, he said : 

"After all, though, what matters it? These privations but 
remind us that human life has something more in it than meat 
and drink. The use of life need not fail even though its 
attainment be attended with .severe and even crucifying disci- 



60 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NXGENT. 

pline. The court-room is my field — judical functions the form 
through which Di\'ine Providence operates my use. Here my 
true life must expend itself, with such incidental and less 
obtrusive well-doing as opportunity may suggest." 

Judge Nugent was not what is termed an orthodox church 
man ; but he was a religious man, deeply pious. He lived his 
religion, and made very little noise about it. Yet no one loved 
more than he did to talk about spiritual matters. An extract 
from a letter written to his wife in 1883 on this subject will 
give an idea of the stress he placed upon it. 

"How little men know of each other until brought face to 
face in the affairs of life. Then they realize taat-the differences 
of belief do not separate them half so widely as they are wont 
to imagine. The light of etemitA-, when it dissipates otir 
mental darkness, will show us plainly the common grotmd upon 
which we all stand; and this thought should strengthen us in 
the determination to cultivate more carefully and largely the 
s>-mpathies which underlie our common nature, and thus 
deepen and broaden the sense of brotherhood which men fe^ 
for one another when they are made to realize the struggle 
which the age is bringing upon them. How much better to 
do this, while this world offers its opportunities of ultimate 
usefulness. Trul%\ if the natural sphere is the seminary or 
nurser>- of the spiritual, the good we do here must >-ield us the 
larger di\-idends of spiritual and heavenly gain — that is, the 
sense of increased capacit>' for usefulness hereafter. How 
simple all this seems to the instructed mind, and yet to the 
modem Greek it is but foolishness. "The Jew, even in this 
age, seeks after a sign, and the Greek seeks after wisdom; but 
^•et, there are those who by their walk and conversation preach 
Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God." With this 
last class may we be found worthy to be numbered. Of one thing, 
my dear v.ife. we may be assured — the dawning of a better 
state will be deferred many years. In the ripening process of 
the regenerate life, all perverted states of the selfhood must 
vanish and recede, and if we are but faithful the fl>"ing years 
will soon bring us to the opening portals of the interior 
world. How earnestly do I hope and pray that we may both 
stand together on the sunny slope of that w"orld. redeemed into 
higher and holier usefulness through the humble uses of the 
present life. ' " 

In ISSl, he writes from Hamilton, Texas, as follows: 
"Others may build up the tilings of this world, but the lee- 
sons of our lives teach us that we have indeed no abiding cirv 



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62 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

a position of comfort, ease and plenty to become an apostle to 
the disinherited and disfranchised of God's creatures. 

He, truly, sacrificed his life upon his country's altar that this 
world might be made a fit habitation for man. ' ' To know 
him, was to love him." His noble life, his sublime charac- 
ter, his self-sacrificing devotion to the poor and weak were 
those of one who might truly be called a philosopher, who 
struck rudely with Ithureal's spear and pointed to the world as 
he showed, beneath the scabs of society, its reeking mass of 
rottenness. He regarded the plutocrat as a high priest of greed 
and the pauper as the devotee and victim of a foolish super- 
stition. 

In trying to describe such a character, I find that my intel- 
lectuality is paralyzed by the wonderful depth and breadth of 
my subject, and I find that I am wholly unfit for such an 
undertaking. 

My first acquaintance with Judge Nugent was at the State 
Convention of the Populists in 1892, when he had crossed the 
Rubicon and was the Blucher to the Democratic hosts. After 
that I was with him often, always glad to meet him, and sorry 
when the hour of parting came. 

During the session of the Twenty-fourth Legislature, I had a 
chance to study Judge Nugent. He was with us on several 
occasions during the session, and his counsel was always of 
such a convincing nature and consisted of such diamonds of 
truth and jevi^els of originality, that we sought him for advice 
and sat speechless under the sound of that sweet voice, 
enchanted by his wonderful intellectuality. To-day I have in 
my possession some amendments to a bill known as the Elec- 
tion Law Bill, which were drafted by Judge Nugent. The bill, 
as introduced in the Legislature, was characterized by Judge 
Nugent as " a measure that would destroy a free ballot and a 
fair count and perpetuate the Democratic party in power in 
Texas." 

The last time I was in the company of our distinguished 
leader was at the last Populist State Executive Committee 
meeting in Fort Worth, when the question of dropping out 
some planks of the Populist platform was under discussion. 
He arose, and, with the eloquence of a Demosthenes, the earn- 



THE UFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NTTGENT. 63 

estness, the zeal and the learning of a Pericles or a Homer, 
made the greatest speech it was ever my pleasure to hear. I 
think it was the ablest effort of his life. I can see him now, 
speaking with that earnestness and zeal which was so charac- 
teristic of his nature. Though he can be with us no more, that 
speech will never die. It sank deep into the hearts of the hear- 
ers and will aid us in our paths of duty, and go ringing down 
through the corridors of time. He touched a chord that 
vibrates throughout the world, and will be iterated and reiter- 
ated until poverty and crime, misery and social death will be no 
more; no tears, no thorns, no night, no injustice, but roseate 
hours are linked to Momi's car and, mid the ceaseless melodies 
of field and stream and air, the children of fantastic scenes 
will glide immortally into perpetual day, 

L. I/. Rhodes. 



In the Spring of 1879 I first became acquainted with Judge 
Thomas Iv. Nugent, then presiding at Stephenville, Erath 
County, Texas. At that time the town was full of people, 
bearing evidence of some extraordinary proceeding going on 
in the court room. An investigation developed the fact that a 
party charged with murder was there to make application for a 
writ of habeas corpus, through which he hoped to secure bail. 
Every look of the spectators, every word from the bystanders 
showed conclusively that there was great prejudice against the 
prisoner at the bar. Threats of lynching were frequently made, 
and, from the many mutterings escaping the lips of an outraged 
community, it seemed the prisoner had public opinion to con- 
tend against on every side. While the sheriff and his deputies 
and the friends of the trembling prisoner kept close watch, his 
counsel read the petition for the writ, to which the sheriff 
replied, "The prisoner is now before the Cotnrt." The Judge, 
to all appearance, was the only man in the court room who 
seemed to realize that justice and not a man charged with 
murder was on trial. When the evidence had been heard, both 
for the state and the petitioner, contrary to the wishes of the 
friends of the deceased and contrary to the expectations of the 
excited spectators, Judge Nugent was able to rise above per- 



64 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

sonal feelings and above public opinion and grant the prisoner 
bail. His action was as much a surprise to many as it was 
eminently just to the prisoner. The conduct of Judge Nugent 
on that occasion marked him as a man not only filled with a 
disposition to do right, but as a man having the courage of his 
convictions. 

Not for many years afterward did I again have the pleasure 
of meeting this man whom all knew but to love, and when I 
met him again he was once more battling against the passions 
of the mob and lifting his voice in behalf of frail humanity. 
Instead of choosing a part that would bring the possessors ot 
wealth to his rescue, help him on to opulence, wealth and 
power, he chose the part of the good Samaritan and sought to 
lift his fellowmen from the slough of despondency. Under 
the forms of law he had witnessed the rapid absorption of the 
country's wealth by corporate monopolies whose thirst for gain 
is insatiable. These corporations, he saw, were invading our 
legislative halls, both national and state, with impunity, and 
hesitating not to corrupt the voters, the people's representa- 
tives, and even inducing our highest courts and judges to soil 
the ermine of the bench. Considering their nefarious practices 
Judge Nugent saw that unless there was an early check put to 
their onward march the country would become a nation of 
paupers and our great republic transformed into a despotism, 
under the iron rule of an oligarchy. Under the circumstances 
there was but one course for him to take, and he was not long 
in making a choice. Throwing himself into the breach between 
capital and labor, he soon proved himself a leader of men as 
well as the advocate of principle. Having been selected by the 
plain people to lead them, he was ever ready to counsel with 
them and always advised patience and conservative action. 
Instead of trying to embitter his followers against the instru- 
ments of oppression, he sought, like the true physician, to cor- 
rect the root of the evil — the law-making power. He recognized 
in the banks a means of successfully aiding the business interests 
of the country ; yet he believed in limiting their privileges. He 
recognized in the railroads of the country an instrument which, 
under existing conditions is simply indispensable; yet he be- 
lieved that, as the work done by them is in the nature of a 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 65 

public function, they should be controlled by the only power 
which, under our federal constitution, has the right to regulate 
commerce between the states — Congress. 

With a heart full of sympathy for his fellow-man, believang 
that the earth was created for the enjoyment of all of God's 
creatures, he battled even unto the end against the monopoliza- 
tion of land for speculative purposes. In all his public declara- 
tions he was modest, unassuming and conservative. In the 
court room as a lawyer he v/as courteous to his adversaries, yet 
just to his client. In all the walks of life he proved himself to 
be a noble man, a loj-al citizen, a loving husband and a kind 
parent, dying as he had lived, trjdng "to do his duty." 

S. O. MOODIE. 



Stephenville, Texas, Jan. 26, 1896. 
Mrs. Thos. L. Nugent, Fort Worth, Texas: 

My Dear Friend — Thinking that I, after an intimate ac- 
quaintance with your husband, Judge Nugent, extending over 
a period of nearly a quarter of a century, might say something 
about him interesting and profitable to the readers of the forth- 
coming book of his life, I will submit a few of the remini.-3cen- 
ces of him which throng my mind. Neither you, nor he, if 
alive, would appreciate any mere personal adulation or fulsome 
flattery; therefore I will select a few plain matters of actual 
occurrence to illustrate his life and character. 

Personally, I always found the Judge of such a simple, sin- 
sere and child-like disposition that he often, in his words and 
actions, reminded me of a sketch I once read of a certain celes- 
tial character, only at home in the Golden Age of the world 
yet forbearingly contending with the rough and coarse realities 
of an age of mixed iron and clay. He verily lived in a world 
or age of which he was not. 

This I will illustrate by several incidents. This age seems 
to be one of such intense struggle and competition that it is, 
seemingly, impossible for a man to live without making all he 
can, out of whom he can, provided he keep himself in the usual 
course of trade and custom. It is well known that a common 



66 THK TJFR WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

scrub cow by being killed by a railroad suddenly acquires a 
strain of blood and other valuable qualities which it usually 
takes other processes a hundred years of breeding in, and 
breeding out, to attain. When the Judge left Erath to go to 
El Paso, he left in his old home pasture some Jersey cattle. 
The Fort Worth & Rio Grande railroad ran through the pas- 
ture and killed one of his best Jersey cows. In the Judge's ab- 
sence, the party with whom he had left his stock of cattle, 
brought suit in the Judge's name and got a verdict of $75.00 
against the road. On hearing of the judgment, the Judge said 
that he did not think that the cow was worth more than $50 
and voluntarily had $25 of the judgment renvitted, though 
there was no doubt that he could have held the $75. 

So, once upon a time he had a horse for sale for which he 
was offered a greater price than he thought the horse was worth 
and let it go for a less price than he was offered. 

When hired hands worked for him and did good service he 
invariably paid them more than the contract price. But 
equally, on the other hand, he always felt unwilling to pay full 
price for negligent and inadequate service. He believed firmly 
in value given for value received. Any violation of this law 
was painful to him. 

Nothing gave him more delight than to retire from tlie bench 
when he was judge and walk about his pastures, sit on a stump 
or on the green sward and look at his heifers and colts. Hun- 
dreds of times I have been with him on such occasions and have 
seen him baptized with the spirit of God who looked upon the 
work of His hands and pronounced it good. 

Cultured in all classic lore, at ease along the planes of higher 
mathematics, at home among the roots and idioms and finished 
phrases of ancient languages, he yet took an intense delight in 
going down among the simpler and more child-like states and 
conditions of actual life. 

AVhile on the bench, there began, here and there in the coun- 
try places, a meeting together of farmers with their wives and 
children. These farmers would bring their dinners in boxes 
or V)askets or buckets and under some arbor by the creek-side, 
or under some great oaks on the hillside, would consult and 
consider whether the conditions of themselves and their neigh- 



THE LIFE WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 67 

bors and their farms could not be bettered. The Judge, along 
with his wife, took great delight in attending these meetings. 
It was a high and royal feast to mix with and speak to these 
simple folk, knowing that out of such material the Divine Prov- 
idence would evolve wisdom of the highest type. There were 
two old men. Judge Hill and Uncle Josiah Crawford, who, on 
their visits to these meetings, would in passing stop and stay 
with the Judge. They were like brothers, open and simple as 
children, and always, as did others, found the Judge homelike 
with open doors. 

I was at the Dallas convention in 1892, when Maj. Rumph 
and Evan Jones told the great, crowded convention of a man 
who, amid the post oaks of the far west, met the Alliance in 
open counsel and comfort in the days of its struggling infancy. 
The body was composed mainly of men who had sat by the 
rivers of Babylon with their harps hung on willows beneath 
which they heard the weeping of their wives and children. 
The mere recital of a man of judicial stature coming among 
them as a disinterested counselor and friend sent a thrill of power 
into the bosoms of this great convention and resulted in the 
overthrow of an over two-thirds instructed majority. In its 
place rolled, with solid, unbroken acclamation, a unanimous 
nomination for governor. 

In the great canvas of 1892, all of the Gubernatorial candi- 
dates, Hogg, Clark and Nugent, on different days came to 
Stephenville. Both Gov. Hogg and Gen. Clark were received 
at the depot with brass bands and conducted to the best hotels in 
carriages. Nugent came, walked leisurely along, shook hands, 
as was his custom, even with many of his old colored neigh- 
bors, as friendly as if they were princes of royal blood. I know 
that this was not for any effect, but his simple, natural way. 
He could not help it any more than a child could help being 
glad to see home people on getting home. 

Speaking of the colored people, some months before the 
Judge died, and the last time he was ever in my office, he and 
a well dressed and seemingly well-to-do gentleman were in 
friendly conversation which became somewhat animated at a 
point in which there is generally a good deal of animus. Both 
were southern born, the Judge coming of an ol(J Louisiana 



68 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

family of slave-holders and having himself seen service in the 
Confederate army. The gentleman remarked that if the slave- 
holders had been paid for their slaves it would have been nothing 
but justice. The Judge replied that it appeared to him that 
having had the services of the slaves for several generations for 
nothing, justice rather demanded that the slaves, rather than 
their owners, ought to have been paid at least enough to start 
them in life. 

The Judge was laden with the woes of his countrymen and 
borne down with the burdens of his people. He realized the 
momentous crisis the multitudes were in. History and proph- 
ecy struggled for leadership — history with its tale of terrible 
mistakes and disasters, of down-trodden multitudes, of eagles 
about the great, helpless carcass; then prophecy with its open- 
ing sunlit skies, its zones of fruit and flowers on either bank of 
rivers of the true life of men worthy to be called the children 
of God, arrested his attention. On his last visit here, a few 
weeks before his death, I was walking with him, as I had 
walked so many times, in his vv^oodland pasture. One of these 
states of mingled history and prophecy came upon him. He 
stopped suddenly and said, "Mr. Kink, I feel like falling 
prone with face and bosom on the earth and pouring out mj' 
heart to God for direction." 

We were discussing whether peaceable evolution or fratricidal 
revolution would be the procedure in the great transition now 
shaking the National heavens and earth. We both recog- 
nized the inevitableness of the transition. With, perhaps, 
more enthusiasm and a stronger leaning towards hopeful proph- 
ecies, I had held that it could and would be done through the 
ballot box. The Judge's whole nature leaned this waj' also, but, 
perhaps with a little more experience of men in their actual 
states, their selfishness, their ambition and motives, he was 
often perplexed on this point. He finally said that he had a 
few days before, received a letter from a friend of his at Austin 
in whom he had great confidence, that led him to believe, in 
accordance with what he greatly desired to believe, that the 
ruling and over ruling Divine Providence would lead the peo- 
ple by peaceable means out of their, present industrial slavery' 
and consequent political bondage. He then said that in order 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS h. NUGENT. 69 

that this might be, "politics must be elevated to a higher 
moral plane, and the people will have to beware of mere pol- 
iticians." What he meant by "mere politicians" was not 
men engaged in political life; because he held that all men 
should take an active part in public affairs or politics proper; 
but men who, for selfish purposes, were merely intent on feast- 
ing and fattening on the public loaf and fish regardless of 
whether the public had weal or woe. Hence he despised par- 
ties formulating policies merely for campaign buncombe with 
no intent of ultimate, lasting good to the connnonwealth. 

The Judge's personal attachments were very strong. Hon. 
C. K. Bell, now member of congress, had been district attorney 
while Nugent was Judge. They had travelled and slept and 
eaten together. Bell brave and brawny, Nugent frail of body. 
Turbulent characters were often before the courts having very 
little regard for law, justice or judge. No bully, in Bell's 
presence, ever went unrebuked for attacks on the Judge's good 
name in or out of court. Bell always volunteered to do any 
surplus fighting necessary. They differed religiously, differed 
politically, but with the instinct that mutually recognizes man- 
hood, whether of their own fold or not, these two men were 
friends first and last. The Judge was importuned to run for 
Congress against Mr. Bell. He told me often that he would 
not run against Bell if he absolutely knew that he would be 
elected. In this, some regarded him as weak; but life is made 
more .sacred by such acts of pure friendship. 

Sitting in my room, into which the dear Judge has so often 
come, so often unbosomed his heart in pleasant though plilo- 
sophic conversation, a thousand memories rush upon me, and 
I only wish that your forthcoming book may carr)^ to others 
.some of the balm of life and refreshing of strength that I have 
derived from an association with him. 

Feeling that your book will show him as I have seen him in 
his walks and talks, personally, professionally and politically, 
and knowing that no one can get up from reading it without 
both pleasure and profit, even as no one could enjoy his com- 
pany without great benefit, I hope it will find its way into the 
homes of thousands and tens of thousands and dispense about 
their firesides that glow of friendly and neighborly humanity 



70 THK LIl'R WORK OF THOIMAS L. NUGENT. 

coupled with high, bounding, though child-like ways of wis- 
dom which we here, in the old home room have so long and so 
many times and so beneficently enjoyed. Though he shall sit 
with us no more; though, when the columns move, he shall 
ride no longer at the front; though, when the battle is weary 
and wasting, we shall no longer hear his words of cheer; 
though, in deliberations of counsel, his calm, well considered 
opinion will no longer be offered ; yet, incarnate him in the 
pages of your book and let its printed and enduring words be 
the sword of his great and gentle spirit, and he will be more 
widely present for good in thousands of hearts and homes than 
he could possibly have been if yet in the body. 
The Judge's old and your 

Sincere Friend, 

Thos. B. King. 



"Little Fritzie Powers" (Frederick William Powers) was 
the child of Judge Nugent' s eldest daughter. His mother died 
when he was only nineteen months old. At that time he had 
been taken into his grandfather's family, and both his grand- 
parents were greatly attached to him. The little fellow became 
much interested in trains when he was about four years old, 
and having great confidence in Santa Claus' good will and 
ability, wrote him a letter asking that a train be left in his 
Christmas stocking. 

His grandmother was so pleased with vSanta Claus' reply to 
Fritzie's letter that she preserved it : 

Little Fritzie Powers, 

AT GRANDMA'.S house. 

El Paso, Texas, 

Christmas Eve, 1888.- 
Afy Dear Little Fritzie : 

As I came down the chimney, I found your sweet little note. 
I am a very old, old man, and have been bringing good things 
to the children for many, many ages, to remind them once 
every year that the Lord came into tlie world to save them. 

Not many children are so thoughtful of Santa Clans as you 
have been, ])ut now and then a dear little fellow writes me a 



THE I.IFR WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 71 

letter as you have done, and then I try to pick out from niy 
store of presents the gift he most desires. You will find your 
tram waitmg to gladden your bright little eyes when they open 
on Christmas morn. ^ 

When Christ was a little child he loved and obeyed his mama 
and papa, and when he became a man he was a noble working 
man. Now you must mind grandma and grandpa and papa 
and maybe you may, with your train, learn to be a little work- 
ing boy, and by and by you will grow to be a working man. 
Ihen the Lord.the heavenly workman, will bless you, and old 
banta Claus will be happy. I,ook out for me with a biir-er 
tram next Christmas. ^^ 

Your loving old Santa Claus. 

(Grandpa assumt:s the role of Santa Claus.) 



AN INCIDENT OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1894. 

During his campaign tour in the fall of '94, after speaking 
at Houston, Judge Nugent started on his way the next morn- 
ing to fill an appointment at Galveston that night. When some 
kw miles out from Houston, upon the conductor coming round 
for his ticket, he discovered that he had taken the wrong train 
and was on his way to Velasco instead of Galveston. The 
conductor told him of a little way station about half a mile 
back where he would probably be able to get a conveyance to 
take him back to Houston. The train slowed up and he got off 
on the prairie. He walked to the station where the agent with 
his wife and several small children lived, and asked if they 
could provide him with the means of getting back to Houston 
at once. He explained that he had to speak in Galveston that 
night, but did not tell who he was. They told him that they 
had nothing but an old broken down, rickety buggy and a 
poor old horse that couldn't well travel, but if he would go on 
to the next hou.^e, perhaps the people there would take him. 
The next house was three-quarters of a mile further on. 
Judge Nugent picked up his two valises— one containing his 
traveling wardrobe and the other his political ammunition— 
and trudged off weary in body and spirit. When he arrived 
at this house, the people told him that their teams were all out 



tJ TIIK LIFK WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

on llic iirairic, gathering ;n the hay, and that they could not 
take hhn, but they informed him of another house, a mile 
further on, where he might be able to get transportation. 

Leaving his valises here, he walked on to the next house 
where he found the inmates at dinner and accepted their hospit- 
able invitation to join them. They had no vehicle of any 
kind, but offered a pair of horses and a man to go with him to 
bring the horses back. Just as the Judge and his escort were 
preparing to mount, they saw a buggy with a woman in it 
coming at full speed over the prairie. It was the wife of the 
agent at the station where the Judge had first stopped. She 
had gone over to the next house to inquire who he was. On 
learning, she rushed back home, hitched up her horse "hardly 
able to travel" to her "rickety old buggy," and taking in the 
two valises on her way, hastened after the owner. 

"Why didn't you tell us who you were?" she cried as she 
came up. "You could have been in Houston by this time. 
We are not going around carrying Democrats and Republicans 
to make vspeeches. Get in quick. We can make the Santa 
Fe at a crossing four miles away." The Judge got in and 
they rattled away. On reaching the crossing, he advised the 
woman to return as he could wait for the train alone. 

"No," she said, "I am not going back. You don't know 
anything about flagging trains and I'm going to flag this one 
for 3^ou." And she did. She refused all offers of payment 
and would not accept even a present of money for her children. 
She was only too glad to have been able to do what she had 
done. 

The Judge boarded the train and that night made his speech. 
Whatever benefit the people of Galveston derived from it may 
be attributed to this energetic woman. Had it not been for 
her, that speech probably would never have been delivered. 
Judge Nugent held her in grateful remembrance to the end of 
his life, and his family will ever cherish her memory in their 
hearts. They only regret that they did not learn her name. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 73 



Religious Views. 



RELIGION, POLITICS. AND PHILOSOPHY, 

Judge T. L. Nugent, repl3'ing to man}' questions and 
charges concerning his religious, economic and palitical views, 
answered in the Advance as follows: 

Let me say, therefore, once for all that T am a Protestant of 
the most pronounced type, and believe most faithfully in the 
fundamental teachings of the Christian religion — particularly 
in the vital doctrine of Christ's divinity and that of the sav- 
ing eflFiciency of the divine truth — divine truth applied to the 
life, that is, accepted, believed and obeyed. I am no enemy of 
church organizations, but believe that the concentration of all 
ecclesiastical power in the hands of any one religious body 
would result in the destruction of both political and religious 
freedom. I regard it as a singular manifestation of the divine 
good will, that Protestantism has led to the development of so 
many forms of religious belief and to the establishment of so 
many churches. Thus the tendency to extreme intolerance is 
counterbalanced, the humane sentiment liberated and set free 
and social evolution along the lines of a true fraternity made 
possible. Thus tyranny over thought is broken, or so far re- 
strained that, from this on to the end, it must always be felt as 
a spent force. As you will see, so far from believing church 
organizations to be a" menace to free institutions, " I regard 
them as .singularly promotive of itidividual and social freedom, 
and of all institutions in which the spirit of freedom .seeks to 
embody itself. But I believe that any effort to thru.st religious 
controvensies into the arena of party politics must be attended 
with evil consequences — -especially evil to the cause of politi- 
cal and social reform. We cannot afford to make war on any 
church or creed, or to lay down any test of religious belief. 
Let the theologians quarrel as much as they plea.sc; the People's 
Party will have its hands full if it devotes it.self with full and 
complete abandonment to its great mi.ssion, which contem- 
plates nothing less than the elimination of monopoly, both in 
spirit and fact, from our entire industrial scheme. It will be 



74 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

seen b}'^ all fair-minded men that the achievement of this great 
result can only be made possible by the cultivation of that 
spirit of freedom and fraternity which alone can bring noble 
men. together for noble purposes. This does not mean Bella- 
my ism, as a certain class of politicians falsely charge, but a 
political state or condition in which strictly public and social 
functions shall be turned over to the government and the 
private citizen left in undisturbed freedom to achieve his own 
destiny in his own way, by the exercise of his individual skill 
and industry and the legitimate investment of his own capital. 
It will be seen that the accomplishment of such a task must 
necessarily involve the displacement of all narrow intoler- 
ance and the co-operation of humane men under the inspira- 
tion of a genuine, true and lasting freedom. Bellamyism may 
come many centuries hence. The living present demands a 
government of law and order organized on the lasting founda- 
tions of political equality and justice. 

T. L. Nugent. 



JUDGE NUGENT'S RELIGIOUS VIEWS, 

Judged from either a historical or scientific standpoint, we 
invariably find that no one thing has so much to do in moulding 
the character of men, as their views, or beliefs, as to their 
relations to God and God's relations to them. It has passed 
into a well established proverb that, "As a man's God is, so is 
the man." The same may be said also of nations. Under the 
inspiration of deities of intellect, of art, of music, of earth and 
sky and wind and wave, Greece was filled with great families 
of philosophers and poets, and an innumerable cult of scholars 
and sculptors, with a long line of great commanders on both 
land and sea; to say nothing of troubadours with their timbrels 
and harps and their unearthly lutes and flutes. In the days of 
its gods, Greece was simply glorious. The Roman worship of 
Mars as the God of war, nerved the scarred and veteran legions 
of Rome; the Roman standard was erected in all countries, and 
the Roman eagle soared in the sun.shine of all climes. The 
followers of Mahomet, believing in a God who would reward 
the Mahometan soldier who fell in the battle with a home 
above the stars where, amid bowers of flowers, black-eyed 
houris would serve ambrosial nectars to the thirsty, and pre- 



THR LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 75 

pare couches of eider-down scented with the rarest of perfumes, 
for the repose and pleasure of the war-worn brave, went into 
the battle as the bride-groom goetli to the bridal chamber; and 
the crescent waved everywhere, from the Euphrates eastward 
to the blue rolling Mediterranean w^estward. The daughters 
of Arabia alwaj'S had cause, in their tents in the fastnesses of 
the desert, to chant peans of victory when news came from any 
field at the front where their husbands and sons met any and 
every foe. These simple shepherds and horse-raisers of the 
sandy plains, by their religious faith, were transformed into 
invincible heroes, translating garments rolled in blood into gar- 
ments of glory. Cromwell's ironside brigade of shaved haired 
peasants, going into battle with prayer and psalm, never failed 
to break the bosom of the long-haired Cavaliers who had, in a 
life of ease and revelry, " forgotten God." The sad and sallow 
face of Stonewall Jackson, arising from his knees in prayer and 
putting himself in the saddle, inspired the spirits and strength- 
ened the sinews of the roughest riders in t!ie ranks, and 
baptized the prim and prude Presbyterian, and the rough and 
tumble "Louisiana Tiger" into one baptism that washed away 
all fear; so that, in receiving a charge, their bosoms were like 
stones in a wall, and in giving a charge, their breath was like 
a cyclonic funnel in the forest. 

Some who are superficial, that is, who look merely on the 
surface of things, may regard, and do regard, the religious 
sentiment as a mere superstition. But those who recognize 
from a scientific standpoint the relations between the outer and 
inner worlds, between man's inner soul and his outward body, 
between spirit aglow with all of the electrifying elements of an 
endless life and matter which is absolutely dead except as 
organized and vivified by spirit, at once comprehend clearly how 
it is, that those things which affect the spirit, or inner, or 
religious part of man, are as much more powerful than mere 
material things, as the awful and forceful current of electricity 
clothed in the lightning's flash, is more forceful than luiorgan- 
ized and luivivified dust and sand and ashes. 

vSome think that religion, in which term we comprehend 
religious matters generally, may do for women and children, 
wlio are personifications of affection, but not for intelligent 



76 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NKGENT. 

men. But when we review all of the great military command- 
ers of such powerful nations as Greece and Rome, and see that, 
before going on campaigns or entering great battles on sea or 
land, they invariably consulted the oracles of their gods, we 
find that even strong men have some idea of a power above 
that of mere sense and matter. 

So with Judge Nugent. From his earliest childhood, he had 
very strong religious impressions. These impressions went 
with and controlled him all through his boyhood, through his 
college life, in his army life, as a teacher, and through his 
career as lawyer and judge, and more especially, strange to 
saj^ in his political career. It is true that some of his earlier 
views and impressions may have been as rude or crude, in 
some respects, as were those of the ancient Greek — yet they 
controlled and actuated him. To say nothing of his earliest 
views, when he became of age he began to do that which 
characterized his life as a lawyer and statesman, that is, he 
began to think and reason — to think and reason even about 
spiritual matters. He meditated, not on house tops, not on 
street corners, not in boisterous assemblies; but in the secret 
chambers of his own soul which found a congenial environ- 
ment in the privacy of his own home. As he meditated, he 
became serious as to the vital relations existing between him- 
self, as a receptive mem1)er, or organ, of life, and God the 
source of life itself. As he thought and thought, he came into 
knowledge of the relative position he occupied, not onl}- to 
the God side of his life, but also to the neighbor side. Coming 
graduall}^ and painfully, at times, out of a state wherein 
thought of God's truth and reasoning about God's word were 
felt to be somewhat treasonable to the truth itself ; yet being 
sincere and honest, he soon began to experience the blessing 
which the great Teacher, who was the truth itself, promised 
when he said: "Blessed is he who heareth these things of 
mine and understandeth them.'' During all his childhood and 
youth, he had "heard the sayings" of the Master. In his 
earliest manhood, he put himself in the endeavor to "under- 
stand them." And in this effort to understand the truth, 
he did not confine himself to the teachings of the elders; but 
craved and sought light wherever he could find light. He was 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 77 

not afraid to hear any man who could give the reason for, or 
rational explanation of, any truth. Knowing that men ought 
to be rational creatures, and that certainly the creator of the 
universe, with all things therein, must be a rational Being, he 
dared to exercise his rational faculty. In this, all rational men 
will admit he was right. Thus, in sincere intent, beginning 
and proceeding with intelligent care and thought, his religious 
conclusions were substantially as follows : 

As to God: Seeing, in the very nature of things, that how- 
ever numerous the members may be, there can be but one head 
to a body — otherwise there would be the monstrosity of hydra- 
headedness; seeing that there must be a head to everthing — 
otherwise there would be confusion, contradiction and anarchy; 
coming into the thought of the necessity of the oneness of 
Godhead, he began to see the truth, and the necessity of the 
truth, of all those multiplied and multi-repeated texts of the 
Divine Word which declare, that the fir.st and great truth, or 
commandment, is, that the Lord thy God is one God, and 
beside Him there is no God; that H0I5', Holy is His nature, or 
name; that God is the Holy One. 

Rationally concluding, as well as being taught by the Bible, 
which he deemed the word of this God, that we ought to know 
something about this God who is our head, he studied deeply 
about Him and His relations to men and men's relations to 
Him and to each other. Thus taught, and thus seeing, the 
necessity of this one God manifesting Himself to men on earth, 
and revealing Himself to the comprehension of men, he began 
to study the spiritual, as well as the corresponding natural, 
rationale by which God would make Him.self known to men, 
and come into union and communion with men on the earth. 

Recognizing that like must accommodate itself to like — 
otherwise there can be no coming together — no coming of one 
to an unlike other; recognizing that there is a natural body and 
there is a spiritual body, and that spiritual substances are to 
the spiritual body what natural substances are to the natural 
body; and recognizing the truth that "God is a spirit," he 
concluded that man, to have any relation — any intelligent 
communication with God — must also be a spirit. 



78 THE IJFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

Hence, first understanding himself to be made in the image 
of God, who is a spirit, that he may understand God to the 
finite degree in which he understands himself, he saw himself — 
saw every man — a spiritual being and an individual spirit 
clothed with a natural body while in the natural world. 
Regarding man as such' a being, he clearly saw how the 
Infinite Spirit might act on finite spirits, or men, — like acting 
upon like. But in the study of Him who was, and is, the 
First and the Last — the Alpha and the Omega — he found God 
to be more than a spirit. As the Alpha, or the beginning, the 
inmost of all beings. He was Life itself; and as the Omega, or 
outmost, He says: "A spirit hath not flesh and' bones as you 
see me have." Recognizing clearly that there could be but 
one God, and also seeing that the Lord Jesus Christ is repeat- 
edly called God — Thomas exclaiming to Him, "My Lord and 
my God;" and other apostles calling Him "The only wise 
God, our Savior." In Revelation, He is called the "First and 
the Last*' and "be.side Him there is none"— and being univer- 
sally taught in every part of the Bible to worship only God; 
and in the Apocalyptic visions, seeing everything in Heaven — 
elders, angels, and all — worshipping Him, he recognized the 
Lord as the "Only wise God, our vSavior," and vv'orshiped 
Him alone. 

Regarding the Scripture as true, and studying to reconcile 
this apparent inconsistency of having the Father as God, and 
Jesus, and Christ, as another person, or God; by the help of 
the laws of spiritual science, as taught by the illustrious 
Svvedenborg, he came into a clear understanding of how God 
manifested Himself in the flesh, how He, going forth out of the 
secret places of the inmost Heavens in the midst of the days, 
stood with His feet upon Mount Zion; how He, Who in the 
beginning was God, was made flesh and dwelt among us in 
flesh. The incarnation was solved. He rationally saw God, 
or the essential divinity — the esse of all things — in his descent, 
or coming down, first clothing Hini-selt with the celestial body 
and thus bringing Himself into union, or atonement, with the 
celestial Heavens and the celestial angels thereof. For there 
are celestial bodies. But the yearning love of the great 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 79 

Father-heart did not permit him to stop on the celestial plane. 
Descending — coming out from the center — He clothed Himself 
with a spiritual body and came into union, or atonement, with 
spirits unclothed from the flesh body. Having other children 
not yet of the celestial or spiritual folds — children upon the 
earth — ^Jehovah clothed Himself with a fleshly garment, or 
body, and thus brought Himself into union or atonement, 
with even the outermost parts of the earth, and brought "life 
more abundant" to men on earth; and the currents of life 
flowed into even the dead. Thus the atonement was seen in 
its true light. 

One God, one life, one ordered scheme 

Divinely natural, its all is shown; 
Nature of nature, positive, supreme, 

Infiniverse in universe; 'tis known 
As "Theosocia," in <^oodness shrined; 
Home of God-man in univer.sed mankind. 

As a matter of course, in this sketch of Judge Nugent' s 
views, neither time nor .space, nor perhaps appropriateness, per- 
mit going into details of, or more than a general expression of, 
his religious convictions. But following the Bible, written 
according to a spiritual science more exact and unerring than 
any material or mathematical science, he v/as led to the most 
satisfactory conclusion — yes, to knowledge as definite as the 
conclusion of a mathematical solution — that the Lord Jestis 
Christ was the one wise God, our vSavior and Heavenly Father; 
for, ' ' Unto us a child is born ; a son is given who is the 
Mighty God, the Heavenly Father, the Prince of Peace." 
That God, to mediate Himself and come down to man, took 
upon himself, not the celestial or spiritual nature of angels as 
He did in Hden, but the nature and fleshly clothing of man. 
Thus this great source and center of all life manifested Him- 
self to men, that they might not only receive life more abund- 
ant, but might see what manner of father He was ; and, so 
seeing, be able, as His children, to follow Him as children natur- 
ally follow a father; and loving and obeying the father, grow up 
in his image and likeness. Hence Judge Nugent, while others, 
especially politicians, were forgetting God, had Him ever 



80 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 

tangibly and personally in view ; and his political, as well as 
personal actions and utterances received their general trend 
from the gentle and guileless, humble and helpful to all who 
live in His presence. 

If a child is encouraged in the presence of a loving parent, 
and restrained, or constrained, as the case may be, by that 
presence ; if Lee's legions were rendered unconquerable and 
conquering heroes by I^ee's immediate presence among them; if 
there can come an efflux of inspiring and strengthening 
power from the human spirit of a human father or captain 
through the frail medium of the human voice and eye and 
earthly presence, how much more, in all fullness, comes the 
strengthening inspiration from Him in whom dwelleth all the 
fullness of the God-head ! 

In trying to find out God by plunging into all the wide and 
deep and bottomless abysses of mere thought, there come 
unrest and distraction, but to behold God as embodied and 
manifested to our rational sense, as he was in the anointed 
humanity with which He clothed Himself in our world, brings 
that peace which is ever found in His presence. Hence we 
find Judge Nugent always in a calm and considerate sphere. 
Recognizing God to be such a God as revealed in the 
meek and helpful Jesus of Nazareth, he saw that rulers 
should be servants of all — should minister instead of being 
ministered to. Hence the higher he got in public life, the 
humbler he became — the more tender he became to those 
below. As seen in his last letter to the press, declining to run 
for Governor on account of his failing health, he says, that 
the "cry of the poor was continually in his ears." (See 
letter in appendix.) In the presence and under the inspira- 
tion of Him who came out of the palace of the Heaven of 
Heavens to live in the fishermen's huts on the Sea of Gallilee, 
or wearied with fasting and foot-wandering, falling asleep at 
night on the mountains or in the brakes of the wilderness 
— of estate worse than bird or fox — and imbued, baptized, 
born again, or whatever else you call it, of this ministering 
spirit. Judge Nugent often found himself, in the human 
degree, as correspondingly far separated from his original state 



THE LIFE WORK OE THOMAS L. NUGENT. 81 

and companions, as the lyord found Himself away from angels 
when right down among men. Nurtured in a southern home, 
where all influences of social, church and political life — where 
sun, moon and stars, winds, tides and currents, all fluxed and 
confluxed into one stream of bitterness against the northern 
Abolitionism; and where tlie southern youths were sworn like 
young Hannibals with eternal anathemas and delendas against 
northern men, he found himself, in his onward and upward 
evolution and transition, conscientiously believing that God 
used Abolition agitators as a means of freeing the African from 
American bondage; and he died without prejudice or enmity, 
and with the utmost good-will for northern men, as well as 
for those of his own south-land. Professionally, his genius, 
his learning, his education, and his natural disposition qualified 
him to be at home with, and a shining member of, the inner 
cult of circles where counsellors, jurists and judges disport 
themselves in the wildest revels of legal di.stinctions and dis- 
putations. Leaving this cult, he went into outer and circum- 
ferential places, where the Alliance man, in simplicity, was 
asking aid in the first things of simple honest government; and 
made these his companions. Ke believed that the Lord is in 
the constant endeavor to reach down and out, through ulti- 
mates, to man on his own plane. In the open and receptive 
minds of the Alliance people— ahunger and athirst to find out 
the right way of doing things — he recognized the workings 
of the Spirit of God breathing into humanity and leading 
it, as rapidly as it will allow itself to be led, to its final 
salvation. 

Being an acknowledged leader among leaders of a great politi- 
cal party — a party that not only had 200,000 majority of 
votes in his State, but in whose ranks were the elect and select 
socially of the old time Soutliern chivalry, who were the cho.sen 
and congenial companions and comrades of his whole early 
life — he left this party, and went among the homeless and 
helpless humbler classes to render them help. This was the 
effect which Judge Nugent's religion had upon him politically. 
It was the same spirit of helpfulness for the helpless, seeing for 
the blind, hearing for the deaf, healing for the sick, that led, 



82 THK UFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NITGENT. 

in greater degree, the Lord God our Savior to come, " not to 
be ministered to, but to minister." 

What pleasure Jehovah could have had among the publicans 
and sinners and lepers and sick, halt and blind, to whom He 
came, and with whom He cast His earthly lot, other than to 
lift them up and help them, no sane man can see. Ever}- 
sane man can see that there was great need of some one help- 
ing them; for, perhaps, in no age of the world, as low as 
humanity has been before and since, was the human race so 
low down and in such pitiable states as when Jehovah incarna- 
ted. Himself among men. So with our agricultural and labor- 
ing classes at this day. Producers of all wealth, and yet, 
retaining but little to use for the necessaries of life — retaining 
scarcely anything for the comforts, and absolutely nothing for 
the luxuries — fast becoming homeless and houseless — the mere 
victims to be bled of what little ]:>lood they have, to nourish 
the great fortunes of the Midases of wealth, concentrated by 
corners and corporations; seemingly without hope for aught 
except the grinding life spent in unrequited toil of limb and 
travail of spirit. With such a class, such a man as Judge 
Nugent with his splendid talent, his high-strung sensitiveness, 
his social and political opportunities, would have had no com- 
panionship, had his religion not led him to devote his talent 
and all his social and political influence to helping tho.se who 
needed help. And we may add, that in this work, he at least 
tasted of the peace which is not understandable to many, and 
felt that joy which is unutterable to any except tho.se who do 
the will of God toward the needy neighbor. 

There was, apparently, an inconsistency which led many to 
believe that Judge Nugent never had any of what is commonly 
called "religion." He .seldom attended church. This was 
not becau.se he believed cluirches were not doing good; but 
rather, he felt that, just at present, he could receive no good 
from them. But, because he never hungered or thirsted, and 
hence never felt called upon to eat out of the dishes or drink 
out of the cups in which religious meat and drinks are being 
.served in the churches of the day, he did not think that tho.se 
that found meat and drink in due season in any church, ought 



THE UFE WORK OP THOMAS h. NUGENT. 83 

not to partake thereof. After his transition from the ordinarily 
accepted faith of the God-head into seeing that there was not, 
and could not be, more than one God; and that all of the 
entirety — all of the fullness of the God-head was, and is, and 
ever will be, in the glorified Lord Jesus, his views of doctrine 
so diverged from those who thought of more than one God, or 
of any other God than the Lord God, that he felt pained in 
mind at teachings which contravened the orderly and scien- 
tifically connected doctrines which flow in utmost conflux and 
coherence from the knowledge of God as the one Lord. In 
fact, the promulgation of this doctrine of one Lord, one Faith, 
one Baptism, into one body in which only one God is found 
accommodating Himself as the only wise God, our Savior, is 
able to cause, and will cause, all old things to pass away and 
all things to become new— and old things no longer to be 
remembered. But, while Judge Nugent had passed through 
this transition, he by no means thought that there was no 
Christianity, no salvation for man, no man loyal except he 
believed to-day as he believed to-daj^ himself. In fact, he was 
more liberal, not only in his hopes, but in his studied convic- 
tions about the salvation of men, than he possibly could have 
been had he been a full communicant and worshiper at every 
orthodox sanctuary in the world. 

The Judge had caught the great truth and the wide meaning 
of what the Master of Truth said to the Samaritan woman, who 
herself thought that worship could only be offered at the altars 
on the Samaritan Mountains, and who equally thought that the 
Prophet Master taught that Jerusalem was the only place 
where men could worship. Said the great Teacher to the 
woman: "Woman, believe me, that the hour cometh when ye 
shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship 
the Father. Ye worship ye know not what. We know what 
we worship. The hour cometh, and now is, when the true 
worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. 
God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him 
in spirit and in truth." Hence Judge Nugent believed that 
wherever the spirit of God is, wherev^er the truth of God is 
known and used, even in its mustard-seed state of smallest of 



84 THE IJFH WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

all things, that, then and there, those receiving of the Father's 
spirit and ultiniating the truth in actual life, however feeble 
and faint, are in worship of God. Hence, passing by and 
through the sanctuaries of all orthodox churches, where many 
disconnected and separated truths are to be found and where 
much of the smoking flax of the Father's spirit continues to 
flicker, on through the pulpits of unorthodox churches, where 
certainly some segregated christian truths are proclaimed and 
some sprinkling of the Father's spirit is scattered ; and on 
through the religions of the uttermost parts of the earth, from 
which even simple idolators try to keep in contact with God 
through the rude and crude images representing some truth or 
feature of the One God — in all of these places— in all of these 
states of life — he thought there was enough leaven of truth to 
finally leaven the whole of nations, kindred, tongues, and 
tribes into a kingdom of heaven in keeping with the wants and 
capabilities of each. 

Whether receiving truth through an earthly priest, or direct 
from Him who is the great Priest Himself; whether receiving 
inspiration and instruction through emblems and types, or 
direct from the spiritual substance typified in the emblem ; 
whether learning through the words of instructors of the Word, 
or learning the Word itself, is a matter depending on one cer- 
tain thing — the ability and enlightenment of mind in person. 
The great overwhelming majority of men of the earth are in 
such far away states from God, that far away and faint 
emblems of God are the only things that can keep them in 
remembrance, or teach them of God. Many men are so 
immersed in the mere sensories, or sensuals, of life, that it 
takes a flesh and blood priest to come at them, or aitect them. 
Many are so given to external things, that it takes external 
church and ordinances, and external priests with external 
words and emblems, to affect them at all. The idolators are so 
far in the externals of life, that the Divine Providence permits 
even wooden and brazen images without life, and idols without 
ears or eyes, to keep alive in the idolatrous nations a faint idea 
of Deity — of a being, however indefinite, at least out of and 
above themselves. Happy would an idolator be, to be able to 



THE LIFE WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 85 

cast down his idols and worship God direct. Happy is the 
man who is able to dispense with broken emblems, and eat the 
living bread, and drink the living water dispensed by Him who 
is the bread and the water of life. Happy is the man who 
heareth the earthly priest, as the minister of Christ; but happier 
is he who can, and does, hear Jehovah Himself, speaking and 
teaching in His own Word, and emerging through His own 
Divine- Natural and glorified humanity. 

As to such a state being po.ssible. Judge Nugent thought 
that the Scriptures clearly taught it, in such passages as 
prophesied a da^^ coming when no man should enquire of 
another, "Knovv ye the Lord ?" and when men would not have 
to go to Jerusalem, nor to other altars, to worship; but every- 
where, and in all things, should worship God, who is a spirit, 
in spirit and in truth. 

He believed that all men would finally be saved. The God 
who is all goodness, could never create man to suffer eternal 
torture. As long as there is, in all the universe, one single 
thing in pain or torture or sorrow, God himself feels that pain, 
and continues to be crucified as long as the wrong-doing and 
suffering of humanity endure. Christ's sufferings upon the 
cross were not merely physical. The accumulated agony of 
the sin and suffering of all the ages v/as upon Him. It will be 
upon Him until all the universe — earth, heaven, hell, and 
all the spiritual worlds — are redeemed. God made men as one 
great body of wdiicli He is the head. As the nerves transmit 
to the brain every sensation of the human body, so is transmit- 
ted to God, through the invisible and much more wonderful 
links that bind together the whole of the material and spiritual 
creations, and center in God, all the sensations that man ever 
feels. As a man feels pain iu hand or foot, from cut or burn, 
God feels it with him, and feels every hurt in the same wa}^ 
If the members of the physical body are at war with each 
other or if any be injured, then all must suffer. Only when 
the members work together in harmony is there health and 
freedom from pain. So not until all the members — from the 
least to the greatest — of God's vast universe, recognize this 
truth and work together in harmony and order, will the great 



80 THE LIl'K WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

redemption have taken place. If you injure your l^rother, 
injure aught that God has made, God suffers all that you have 
caused another to suffer. This is the meaning of His words, 
" Even as ye have done it vnito the least of these, my little 
ones, ye have done it unto me." Hence ever^^ cup of cold 
water, every kind word given to the poorest and meanest of 
God's creatures is as much given to God, as if God Himself 
in bodily presence stood before you. Every 'unkind word, 
unkiud thought or deed, given to your fellow creature is given 
to God, and the sorrow and pain which you cause Him in this 
way adds to the might}^ burden of suffering that has been 
accumulating for Him since sin and suffering began. God 
inflicts no suffering. The sufferings caused by the evils of 
mankind — and all suffering is caused by evil — He feels in all 
their intensity. 

Judge Nugent believed that even the devils in Hell would 
be redeemed. Not that man, or devil, should be saved in 
.spite of himself, for no one can be saved except of his own 
free will: but that there is a turning point for every man, even 
though he may have descended to the lowest hell, when the 
Divinity that is in him begins to struggle upward once more. 
The lower he has gone — the more he has given himself up to 
evil and sin — the more painful and difiicult nuist be his strug- 
gle 1)ack to that purity which man must have to become the 
as.sociate of angels. But that every man will, even though it 
1)6 after many ages and through terrific struggles, led l)y the 
tender and watchful care of God vv'.io is always with him, 
finally attain the estate of the bljsse 1. He be'.ieved that by 
following Chri.st — living a life of service to others — one may 
hasten the day when God's kingdom shall come on earth. 
The following is found marked in one of his favorite books: 

"Earth requires a kingdom that is religion, a religion that 
shall be a kingdom; that rest in love and service; that shall 
outgrow as a divine humanity; that shall so enter into and fill 
humanity; that shall move forth, not as from without, but as 
from within; yea, that shall be so inclusive in the operations 
of its benevolence, that it shall touch devils as well as men of 
finer i.ssues, — at once reach those of the race encamped so 



TIIK IM'E WORK OF THOMAS L. NUCnCNT. 87 

transiently upon this bubble, the globe, and the sad and shad- 
owy troops of its ancestry, dropped down into the under-world. 

"It is the competitive life that crucifies humanity. It is 
wcM'king as a hireling that lirutalizes; that arrays man against 
his fellow, and all against God, We want no beggarly com- 
munism — the selfi.shness of the many, as society is the selfish- 
ness of the few. Christ worked for love; by love produced, 
enriched, uplifted, amplified gifts, and was prepared to save 
the race. He is our Truth; thus we would embody His truth. 
He is our way; thus we would follow Him in service." 

" The actual and profound philanthropist is the saddest of 
men, knowing that all his painful and virtuous effort is, at 
best, palliative, and that it brings no cure to the world's sin 
and misery. Philanthropy is but the hyssop on the sponge, 
lifted with a reed, and touched to the lips of humanity upon 
its cross. But Christ comes that humanity may be taken down 
from the cross. ' Come unto me, and learn of me, and ye shall 
find rest. ' There is no rest on earth outside of the kingdom of 
God, where service, finding its divine method, makes outlet 
for the heroic inspirations of the great host and harmony of the 
divine affections in man. The kingdom of God in His work- 
ing form, let into humanity for the service of humanity. Here 
the more a man serves, the more he rests. Yes, the liftings of 
service are liftings up into the very bosom of rest. He sleeps 
in God who wakes and toils with man." 

A clean and righteous decision as judge; a lucid and con- 
.scientious argument as an advocate; a clear and comprehensive 
pleading as a pleader; a kind word to the friendless; a cup of 
cold water, or a piece of bread to the athirst and ahungered, 
were acts into which the spirit of God entered through the 
spirit of the actor, and in which the .spirit of man is baptized 
with the spirit of God, and he worships God in " spirit and in 
truth." Judging a tree by its fruit Judge Nugent seemed to 
be about as pure and spiritually minded as the most of us who 
are in states of life that compel us to attend churches where 
earthly priests do minister, in order to keep us straight. He 
seemed to have received that peculiar white stone which none 
can read but him who hath it. Judge Nugent always dared to 



88 THK LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

think, as will be seen by a letter published elsewhere in this 
volume. By sincere study of the expositions giv^en by Sweden- 
borg, of the law, or science, by which the Bible might be under- 
stood, both in the letter and in the spirit — on both natural and 
spiritual planes of life — he dared to investigate on planes of 
which Swedenborg himself knew, or at least wrote, but little. 
He recognized the word of God as infinite in lessons of wisdom 
— depth opening beneath depth — height expanding above 
height — to the extent that no angel, much less mortal man, 
would ever reach the point at which he would not have cause 
to exclaim: " Open Thou mine eyes that I may behold won- 
drous things out of Thy law. " The Judge not 'only cried in 
his spirit for the opening of his eyes, but when opened, he 
took pleasure in looking. We know that knowledge has not 
been in fullness at any past era; and that no mortal in any past 
generation has not only not possessed all knowledge, but that 
no man has ever even explored all the latitudes and longitudes 
of wisdom. Still, knowing that each and all must have their 
meat and bread in due season, he never endeavored to impose 
his own advanced views on others not in states of mind to 
receive and digest and use them for their own and others' good. 
He was singularly free from the spirit of what is called proselyt- 
ism. Often he would call attention to things which were far 
in advance of what is generally received; but knowing that no 
man naturally can receive and digest the healthiest of food 
without having a hunger or appetite for it; so, in spiritual mat- 
ters, he knew that the law of health required that spiritual 
meats and drinks be offered only to those who are ahungered 
and to those who are athirst. Finding no hunger or thirst, he 
made no further offer. But wherever he found any one in 
states to receive what he had to offer, he was profuse in his 
bestowal of an abundance. He well understood what the 
Savior meant when He said to His disciples, that he had man}^ 
things to say to them in future, which they were yet not ready 
to receive. Every man knows that in dealing with children , par- 
ents do not divulge all knowledge at once to the childish mind. 
Teachers do not teach the higher mysteries of trigonometry or 
chemistry to abecedarians. Still, it is no crime for either 



THE LIFE WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 89 

teachers or parents to know more than they teach to infants — 
provided they use their higher knowledge for those in the 
higher degrees of mental attainment. Men are right in saying 
that no one should have knowledge without using it. In this, 
Judge Nugent fully concurred. In fact, the keystone of his 
religion was, that all knowledge has relation to use, and that 
which is not used is taken away; that use is necessarily, as 
well as beneficently, the law of life itself. Christ, in His day, 
found but few ready to receive and properlj' u.se either the spir- 
itual or celestial truths of which He was the embodiment. So 
to the multitudes He spoke in parables; but to the select few. 
He showed the deep mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. In 
a less degree — a degree as less as that which is human is 
inferior to that which is divine — ^Judge Nugent kept the pearls 
of his advanced knowledge from those who could not, and 
would not, appreciate them and appropriate them to their use. 
But, as stated, he would talk all day and night with such as 
expressed a desire to know of things not yet generally received ; 
but which, logically and inevitably, are coming when men are 
ready to receive them; and have even come now to the " few " 
who are ready, out of the many called who are not. If the 
healing power of life, from the center source of life, could reach 
and mediate itself to the heathen idolaters in the uttermost 
parts of the earth, from which the inhabitants look thrcnigh 
images up to God; if while yet clothed with a body filled with 
all the infirmities of a race of extraordinarily infirm people, 
saving power could go out through His fingers to restore the 
blind; and saving health go out through His earthl}^ garments 
to cure all manner of sickness; after He had glorified this body 
and brought it into perfect atonement with the divine life that 
dwelt in it, how much greater was the power acting on men 
than when merely mediated to them through images or brolcen 
emblems, or earthly priests and symbols and types of all of 
which the Lord was the substance. 

To some who do not comprehend the relation and correla- 
tion of spirit to matter. Judge Nugent' s views seemed mysti- 
cal, if not merely visionary. But, when weighed b)^ all laws 
known to obtain in the natural world, and viewed in the light 



90 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. XTGEXT. 

of all well recognized phenomena, it will be seen that his \-iew.s 
were as substantial and as judiciously rational as the deductions 
of any natural law. 

In nature we find all life coming from within and clothing 
itself in appropriate covering or body. Whence comes the blos- 
som on the fruit tree? "Whence comes the body of the tree? 
Whence comes the power which sloughs oft the dead bark and 
twigs of the forest and clothes the trees with new and expand- 
ing garments, or bodies? When a man's spirit leaves this 
body, what becomes of the bod\-? In fact all nature demon- 
strates that all natural phenomena are dependent upon some 
inner life-power as their source, or creating cause'. Xow He in 
whom there is no variableness, does not act one way in the 
natural world and another way in the spiritual world. That 
there is an exact correspondence between things natural and 
things spiritual is shown by the fact, that the Master Teacher 
alwaj's spoke to the multitudes in parables — using some natural 
phenomenon to illustrate and teach some spiritual phenomenon, 
the natural not being more, or less tangible, to the nattiral mind 
than the spiritual is to the spiritual mind. Xo one recognized 
more distinctly the far reaching and signal consequences of 
spiritual power working from within outwardly, than did Judge 
Nugent. He recognized that this was the way in which, what 
is called the second coming of Jehovah is bound to take place, 
and that this Second coming is now, and has been for many 
years, taking place. Seeing that Jehovah, ha\-ing once come 
into all ultimates, or externals, and having opened a way, or 
highway*, by and through which life could flow from Him into 
even all of the uttermost parts of, or externals, of His crea- 
tions, and seeing that this way had been by men either closed 
by their omissions, or greatly obstructed by their commissions, 
neither knowledge nor attending life from the primal sotirce 
was being received by men on the earth, he recognized the ne- 
cessity of the descent into all mind and life on the earthly 
plane, of Hira who is the truth and the life in essence. And 
that this coming, while not effected by outward or external 
means; yet in time would affect all outward and external things, 
including not only individual men, but all churches and poHti- 



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9-' TH]') I.Il'K WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGKNT. 

passed away from earth in well founded hope for his country 
and countrymen. 

The reader will gather from the foregoing thoughts, and 
from his own letters, that Judge Nugent's religious views ex- 
tended through and comprehended all the essentials of Chris- 
tian theology, taking in the Deity, or God-head, with all the 
fullness thereof in Christ; the Incarnation, not of Christ, but 
of Jehovah Himself " in Christ;" the Atonement, or the bring- 
ing into unity the human and Divine, the natural and the 
spiritual, so that not only the anointed Divine-human, called 
" the Christ." received all of the fullness of the God-head, but, 
through this Divine-human poured out all spiritual power onto 
the human plane where men dwell, in such mediated way and 
portion, that men actually, as spiritual beings, live and move 
and have their entire being in the sphere of this outpouring 
spiritual power of the Heavenly Sun — even as all natural 
tilings live and grow in the light and heat of the natural sun. 
And more important now to us, is the fact of the coming again 
of the light and heat — Wisdom and attendant I^ove — of the 
" vSun of Righteousness," with healing on His wings for the 
Nations. 

Certainly the life of Judge Nugent should make all seekers 
and teachers of truth inquire what it was that gave him such 
])ower for good, such influence for the right, and such affection 
from the weary and heavy-laden masses. If this is done, the 
object of this sketch is accomplished. For this article is not 
written for the laudation of him; but that all that wish to know 
the secret of his power may know where to find it. 



Mrs. T. ly. Nugent, Fort Worth, Texas: 

Dear Madam — I must beg forgiveness for delay in answering 
your letter of the 16th inst. If I had followed the impulse of 
my heart, the answer would have been written immediately. 
But my health and strength were not adequate to the execution 
of what my love for Judge Nugent demanded of me. And the 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 93 

longer I lingered over the duty the greater appeared my in- 
competenc}^ to meet the claims of this last sad tribute to my 
friend. 

How shall I begin to name his virtues ? or, rather, having 
once begun to enumerate them, where and when could my love 
find a period for the sketch or recollections you have solicited ? 
Indeed, I am unequal to the task. My tears would drown the 
words of condolence if I should stay to estimate or realize the 
greatness of our loss in Judge Nugent' s departure from this 
world. For to me there is absolutely no one living to whom I 
can turn as a substitute. Where is there another so tender, or 
so true ? so delicate in his perceptions of others' tastes and so 
considerate of all their frailties and foibles ! Where is there 
another who has penetrated so deeply the mysteries of our 
spiritual relations to life, and yet maintained a steady poise and 
a firm stand in this life? It really seems as if Judge Nugent 
was a naturalized citizen of both the visible and invisible 
worlds ; as much at home in the one as in the other ; and a 
peer of the realm in both. To those intimately associated with 
him, it has for years been manifest that his highest delight was 
in those writings and studies that lift the veil of sense and intro- 
duce us to the realities of the unseen world. Yet he always 
maintained a firm hold upon the affairs of this busy world and 
the deepest interest in every question of public import. No 
man realized more than he that the service of country and the 
cause of humanity should command his first attention. Wit- 
ness his last card, withdrawing from the gubernatorial contest. 

Friendship of old has been called a " jewel," and certainly 
Judge Nugent's friendship was, to his friends, a diamond of the 
first water. When one of his best and most intimate friends 
spoke to me of him, this was his tribute of love : ' ' You will 
find him true, always and everywhere, and to the last, true to 
his friends." Little did I then know how that trait of his 
character was to be tested to its utmost tension in his subse- 
quent friendship for me. The fiery trial to which his friendship 
was subjected seemed only to increase the ardor of his attach- 
ment for me. His letters, written in those days of trial, when- 
ever read by me, always produce .sensations in my .spirit like 



94 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

the aromaof a flower-bed, set with the sweetest scented flowers. 
There was not a word or line that was not redolent of his warm 
affections and radiant with the light of his highly cultured intel- 
lect. I have never read any letters that were comparable to 
his. They were models, not simply as the souvenirs of the 
choicest sentiment and warmest sympathies, but they were abso- 
lutely unique and wholly original, both as to their animus and 
their style. I have read the correspondence of many great men, 
but have yet to find any letters so sweetly flavored by the heart 
or more suggestive of the purest and highest truths. How 
could it be otherwise ? Did not your husband live, move and 
have his being in the loftiest realms of philosophy and theol- 
ogy ? Was not his buoyant and busy brain always bearing 
him heavenward in his daily meditations on the highest and 
holiest themes ? Do you not remember the sweet smiles that 
always kindled in his eyes, and the radiant glow of his counte- 
nance during our winter evening readings of the brilliant occult- 
ism of T. L. Harris and the wisdom of the grand old .seer 
of Sweden ? How his manly soul reveled in those sublime 
revelations from the unseen world. With what exquisite de- 
light did he listen to and read those splendid specimens of 
rhetoric and eloquence that were displayed on the pages of Eso- 
teric Christianity and Buddhism. I shall never forget those 
winter evenings on another account ; and you must forgive me 
for this allusion to yourself, for the incident reflects a light 
upon domestic science that may not l^e unprofitable to others ; 
and I know that your husband wants me to say this. I allude 
to the fact that you were always an interested listener and 
heartily participated in our discussions of our metaphysical and 
often very abstruse subjects. Although this happened many 
years ago, I still remember how much your presence and intel- 
ligent sympathy added to the enjoyment of those winter eve- 
nings. 

Of late I have been studying the works of that greatest of 
modern philosophers, Henry James of Mass., and I have longed 
for the society of Judge Nugent in pursuing this lonely but 
lofty pathway of theology and philosopliy. There was never 
another man within the large circle of my acquaintance to 



THE LIFE WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 95 

whom I could turn with full confidence of an instant and whole- 
souled recognition of the transcendent claims of this new phi- 
losophy and theology. But though absent in the body now, 
you know that he is spiritually nearer to us, and that as a min- 
istering spirit he can throw a brighter light into our minds from 
the heavenly altitudes where he now dwells. Not " through a 
glass, darkly," but with open vision, he now clearly sees the 
mysterious that, to us, may still be veiled. May his pure spirit 
be my guardian through life. I could beg no greater boon 
from mundane blessings. I know he is yours. 
Very cordially, 

Your friend, 

E. Payson Walton. 



New Church Chapel, 
Galveston, Texas, Feb. 6, 1896. 
Mrs. T. h. Nugent, Forth Worth, Texas: 

Dear Madam — This is an effort to respond to your solicita- 
tion to furnish you with a short sketch of the impressions my 
friend, your late husband, Judge Thos. L,, Nugent, made upon 
me, as I knew him. 

It is my opinion that neither he nor you would care a whit 
for simply complimentary statements, calculated to tickle the 
selfhood of ordinary people. It is one of my impressions, 
therefore, that he would have only that said, in your forthcom- 
ing ])ook, that would tend to enlighten, to inspire or provoke 
men to thought and investigation. Anything, therefore, which 
would tend to guide the mind of the reader to find the streams 
of truth that flowed .so copiously through his mind from the 
single fountain of all truth, should not be left unsaid, and all 
else should be omitted. I shall say, therefore, that: 

Judge T. Iv. Nugent was a reformer from center to circum- 
ference. I regard him a.s an embodiment of the principles he 
advocated. To know those principles would be to know the 
man. He stood in a more interior light than it was ever pos- 



96 THE I.IFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

sible for him to reveal to the people. He spoke to a certain 
extent in parables. He, no doubt, felt at ail times that he had 
many things to say to them that the^' could not yet hear. He 
was moved with compassion towards them. He sought to lead 
them by a way they knew not. He cared little then, and less 
now, what people say about him. Self was in nothing he did. 
He looked upon every good and perfect gift as coming from 
the Lord alone. To him all things were but signs of the Lord's 
coming. All changes as but preparations for it. He was, 
therefore, of all men, a servant of the lyord, and his delight 
was to do His will. He looked upon the whole human race as 
being conjoined to the Lord — and this conjunction he called 
the Divine Humanity. All things were to him a One. Each 
a part of an organic whole whose soul God is, and whose body 
is man. He looked, therefore, for a slow but certain redemp- 
tion for all mankind; for the restitution of all things. His life 
was a religious life from center to circumference — each and all 
was religious — all was spiritual. He stood in the center of a 
great light. He saw its rays reaching out to the outermost or 
circumference. He looked upon the Natural plane as being 
the ultimate basis — containent or a vessel to receive the Divine 
and spiritual life. He saw truth take the form and color of 
the vessel into which it was poured. He desired, therefore, to 
set before the Lord noble vessels. He knew very well that he, 
as well as all men, were but vessels or receptacles of the Divine 
influence, knew that the ves.sels must be whole, clean, orderly. 
He desired, thought and lived in the constant effort to prepare 
his own mind as a vessel meet for the Master's use. His 
public life was spent in preparing the social vessels to corre- 
.spond to heavenly forms — knowing full well that they would be 
no sooner prepared than filled with the Divine life. This is a 
short statement of that wonderful philosophy he saw and under- 
stood so well, the spirit of which he and many others called 
"This living and wonderful age." This is why I say he was 
a reformer from center to circumference. 

Populism was the outermost plane — The lowest — the funda- 
mental — the containment of all. That which he saw and felt 
and lived; the source of his inspiration, his hope, his joy, his 



THE LIFE WORK Ol'^ THOMAS E. NUGENT. 97 

povv^er and his success, was above the plane of the Omaha plat- 
form. His mind was interiorly opened to the heavens, and 
probably thousands and tens of thousands who wrought with 
him upon this plane have no glimpse of that higher, interior 
light in which he stood. Therefore they wonder at the ' 'sac- 
rifice he made, etc.," while he well knew he was making no sac- 
rifice, but only living out his love, his faith, his hope and daily 
ascending and descending to and from this heaven. The 
sweetest bread he ate was this bread of sacrifice. This wine 
was the wine of joy, this oil the oil of gladness. He did not 
believe in organized churches. The only tabernacle God would 
condescend to abide in was the tabernacle of humanity. He 
believed that God did abide in every human heart, and that to 
feed, to clothe and to shelter men, was to feed, clothe and shel- 
ter the Ivord. To do it not unto them was to do it not unto 
Him. A glorious religion, a sweet religion, a divine religion. 
All this and more he learned, from Swedenborg whose works, 
as well as others of like character who have come after him, he 
would have his friends read. I here submit an extract from a 
letter addressed to me, dated March 7, 1895, in which he says, 
"I do not doubt that the cause of reform is gathering strength 
in Texas and that it will, in 1896, be triumphant if its leaders 
are wise and discreet in their management. There is much to 
be learned by them, both in the matter of practical organiza- 
tion and management and in a just comprehension of the move- 
ment itself, or rather of its true philosophical basis. They, how- 
ever, are moving in the right direction, and best of all, are in- 
spired by an unselfish desire to benefit and uplift humanity. 
Old, petrified thoughts are rapidly giving place to views more 
in harmony with the ethical demands of this living and won- 
derful age. Men, who a few years ago, were moved by the 
political quackery of the dead and dying old parties, are now 
digging beneath the surface of things to find and destroy the 
roots of social and industrial evils — thus to clear the grounds 
for the sowing of seed for the harvest of the new time. They 
are faithfully toiling in the politico-economical field and, mean- 
while, growing in mental and spiritual stature — so preparing 
to gather the fruits of victory when it shall come. I have done 



98 THE LIFE WORK OI' THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

no church work for ^-ears, believing that the ecclesiastical era is 
nearing its end and that the coming church is to be a redeemed 
and glorified social state in which the I,ord will stand as the 
man of the people, the Divine chief of the world's organized 
industries. This will be the answer to Earth's universal 
prayer — the fulfillment of her long deferred hope. "Thy 
Kingdom come." Yours Fraternally, 

A. B. Francisco, 
Minister, Nciv Jerusalem Clair eh 

Galveston, Tex. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 99 



Opinions on Labor Subjects 

JUDGE NUGENT AND THE FARMERS' ALLIANCE, 

From the time the prhiciples of the Farmers' Alliance first 
became known to the public, they received Judge Nugent's 
hearty endorsement. His strong mind, free from prejudice of 
sect, party or section, subjected the principles of the Alliance 
to tliat severe and impartial analysis with which he was accus- 
tomed to regard all important questions before announcing his 
conclusions. In this, as in all things, careful thought preceded 
his announcement of ojjinion; and in this matter, as in others, 
he had the strength of position which only such thoughts can 
give. His sympathies went with his thought. As an honored 
citizen of Erath County says of him: "Judge Nugent was a 
fast friend of the Farmers' Alliance, and proved it by his 
warmest sympathy for the order and its cherished principles. 
Often did he meet with them in their annual convocations in 
his home county, and talk with them on the true principles of 
reform, in simple speech, but with the matchless logic and 
classic eloquence peculiar to himself; and this during the time 
he was District Judge. Frequently the prominent lawyers of 
his district would remonstrate with him and tell him that the 
part he was taking would injure his political influence. But 
he held fast to the cause of reform ; and his memory is em- 
balmed in the hearts of all true Alliance people throughout the 
State ; for, at that time, it was truly encouraging to see one of 
the greatest and purest men of the State encouraging their 
cause, especially since, being a lawyer, he was not eligible to 
membership. ' ' 

That his judgment was correct in thus endorsing the 
Alliance, there is a strong favoring presumption. The 
political demands growing out of the ethical principles of the 
Alliance (the ethical principles were the first to be announced. 



100 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

and they are still the life principles of the order), have become 
the platform of a mighty and rapidly growing political party, 
whose battle cry is, " Equal rights to all and special privileges 
to none." This party already numbers two million voters; and 
on the great political questions now in discussion by the 
American public, ihey are the best informed two million voters 
in the United States, "our enemies themselves being the 
judges." But, in honor of the Farmers' Alliance it may 
lie "truly said, if in all these marshalled hosts advancing 
to reclaim the lost and ruined heritage bequeathed by patriot 
ancestors, there is a single man not in sympathy with the grand 
Declaration of Intentions of the Farmers' Alliance— a single 
man whose soul has not experienced the regenerating and up- 
lifting force of conscious possession of those principles, that 
man is not yet ready for the high service of God and man 
which the People's Party calls its members to perform. The 
Farmers' Alliance is of God; the Peoples' Party is of the 
Farmers' Alliance; therefore the People's Party is of God. If 
the principles of the Farmers' Alliance are not of God, they 
are not true and they should be denied. If they are true, they 
are of God and should be accepted; and if what we propose to 
do under those principles, for individual man and for society 
at large, is not in accordance with the will of God, it is wrong, 
and it should not be done; but if what we propose to do for 
individual man and for society at large, is in accordance with 
the will of God, it is right and it should be done. The reason 
that Judge Nugent was with us, is this: He saw that our 
principled were truth, and were therefore of God. Hence his 
strength; hence our strength. God help the people to stand 
on this foundation. Thus standing, nor man, nor devil, nor 
hell can dispossess us " If God be for us, who can be against 

us?" 

Judge Nugent is gone, but the impress of his thought and 
life is on the people. All that we say about him now should 
tend to deepen that impress. It was only for good; deepen it, 
and it will be for more and for more extended good. Could he 
speak to us, he would say: '' Write nothing about me but that 
which will do others good. " This we will try to write. 



THK IJFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NTTORNT. 101 

Though he was not a member of the Order (his profession 
debarring him from membership), yet his character was the 
embodiment, and his life the expression, of the sublime moral 
principles taught by the Farmers' Alliance. To those who are 
unacquainted with these principles, this ma}^ sound strange; 
particularly will it sound strange to those who have no impres- 
sions concerning this great Order other than those impressions 
received from the mistaken utterances of the partisan press or 
from the empty speech of chattering street gossips. Yet it is 
true that, in the character and life of this strong, just and 
lovely man, is seen the exemplification of that which the Alli- 
ance, the grandest of all human educative institutions, endeav- 
ors to make of each of its members. For ten years the writer 
has been a member of the Farmers' Alliance. He knows what 
are the teachings within its closed doors; and he knows what 
moral sentiments, whether announced in the .secret sessions of 
the Order or from the lecture stand in public, elicit from its 
members the heartiest responses of approval. I warit to vin- 
dicate the position of our great ascended reform leader in so 
strongly approving the Alliance, and, indirectly, through this 
vindication, I want to strengthen Alliance people in their devo- 
tion to their Order. Therefore I most respectfully request a 
careful perusal of what shall be further said. Do this, and he 
who has wondered shall cease to wonder, that one so judicious 
of thought, of such varied and accurate learning, and of such 
beautiful character — in a word, that one in whom were all 
the elements of greatness and goodness, should have been so 
ardent a supporter of the great social movement known as the 
Farmers' Alliance. 

One cannot read Alliance literature without observing the 
frequent, and often impassioned, presentations of the thought 
of the inexpressible worthiness, the immeasurable value of a 
human being, of man as man, irrespective of the accidental cir- 
cumstances or connections of his life. It may be a thing of 
wonder that plain men, and, as the world has it, uneducated, 
should hold in such vivid apprehension, and should be, in 
their organized effort to better their social condition, so intelli- 
gently and so acquiescently under the domination of this 



102 Tine LIFK WORK OF THOMAS I,. NUGl'.NT. 

supreme and only completely authoritative thought, of all cor- 
rect movements in social reform work; especially may it seem 
strange when this thought, the priceless value of man, seems 
so generall}' to have disappeared from the minds — at least from 
their every-day work — of modern scholars, statesmen and 
divines. But the wonder ceases when we remember that this 
is a Bible thought, and that all true Alliance people are Bible 
people, believing that human governments, institutions 
resources and possessions count nothing in God's thought save 
as man — God's co-worker — shall make them contributory to the 
accomphshment of God's will Vv'ith reference to individual 
man, viz., his moral regeneration — his intellectual, social and 
spiritual elevation; and hence, the reclamation of man from 
evil and his restoration to good for time and eternit5\ The 
Alliance man believes in the fullness of the final influx of the 
divine into the human through the word, the grace and the 
spirit of God ; but he grasps also the thought, that the divine 
economy contemplates that the physical (property values in 
their various uses) and social and civil institutions are to be 
used as media to aid in the higher developments of man. Kasy 
is the transition from this thought to this other: That if the 
people are dispossessed of their property values (the products 
of their labor) as they are now being dispossessed; and if their 
civil institutions become instrumentalities of wrong and oppres- 
sion, as now, then v;e are in conditions that are opposed to 
personal happiness and higher individual development. Hence 
our effort to better the financial condition of our people and to 
improve in knowledge of our government. 

We think that the most wonderful truth, next to the incar- 
nation of the Deity, is that which comes to us in the divinely 
inspired communication, Man was made in the image of God ; 
and, therefore, that the most beautiful, the sublimest object in 
the universe of created things, is the man whose character and 
life present to the contemplation of his fellow men, a living 
illustration of this wonderful vScripture. Perhaps all do not 
reason about it; but all feel it. This is why we so exalt man; 
why man, in our scale of measuring values, is of greater worth 
than gold, "Yea, than much fine gold;" why earthly "Poiup 



THK UFK WORK OF THOMAS h. NUGENT. 103 

and circumstance" are of little value in comparison with man; 
why even one of the poor derided "Spawn of the wayside 
cabin" is of greater value than ten thousand of the million 
dollar palaces now becoming vSo common in our country, mark- 
ing the dwelling places of vanity, pride, lust and greed; and 
why every force of nature that the genius of man brings under 
the control of man, and every resource of nature that God has 
placed at the command of man, instead of being seized and 
used by beastly avarice to further the ends of its own base 
gratifications, should be used by the intelligence, piety and 
benevolence of men, to secure the improvement, the happiness 
and the social and individual elevation of man. Infinite possi- 
bility! Or possibility of infinite good! Gone from the soul, 
by sin's defacing hand, is that moral image of God in which 
the first of our race were created ; but back to the soul, never 
again to be erased, may come the image of its Divine Original. 
And come it may, and come it must, if ever, through the 
mystery and suffering of the incarnation, in conjunction with 
the natural forces (wealth, education, domestic environments, 
prohibitions and mandates of human governments, etc.) 
ordained of God and designed, as taught by nature and revela- 
tion, to be used in connection with spiritual forces, in restoring 
to man's .soul the lost image of God. Set all forces, .spiritual 
and natural, to the work for which the Bible and Nature tell 
us they were intended, viz. : Restoring individual man to God, 
and presently, you redeem society from the evils in which the 
passions and deeds of men imbruted by worship of mammon 
have involved it; and soon, in all the earth, becomes a sweet 
reality that beautiful conception of love in action set forth in 
the seventh paragraph of the Declaration of the Intentions of 
the Farmers' Alliance, whose closing sentence is this: "Its 
laws are reason and ec^uity ;" its intentions are "Peace on earth, 
good will toward men." To this consummation the Alliance 
is pledged by the chief basic principle of the organization; but 
the achievement of this consummation can be secured only by 
the strength and purity of its individual members. We, there- 
fore, insist that there is, that there can be, no conception of 
right social reform, of which the basic element is not the 



104 THK LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

immeasurable, yea, the infinite, value of man. Our minds, 
our souls, must invest this thought with supreme authority; 
for it is thus, and only thus, that we shall hold all things — the 
beauty, the glory, the riches of the world; and the thoughts of 
men and the feelings of men ; and whatsoever in heaven we 
have the right to call to our aid; and whatsoever in the earth 
Divine love has given us the right to call our own — only, I say, 
with this conception of man, shall we be able to hold all these 
things, in heaven and earth, in subordination and contribution 
to the work of giving man back, reclaimed from evil, saved 
and happy, to the embrace of God. I am an Alliance man, 
and am a Christian. No Christian, when he shall know them, 
can fail to endorse the principles of the Alliance ; and no 
Alliance man, if a true and all around Alliance man, is other 
than a Christian. 

I speak not irreverently, l:>ut by authority from God, when I 
say that the man of high thought, pure feeling, and of noble, 
brave and generous action, is God-like ; and that this man's 
soul and life are a mirror in which is reflected the image of 
God. The ocean, as Byron beautifully sings, is the " mirror 
wherein the Almighty's form glasses itself in tempests;" and 
the Psalmist says: " The heavens declare the glory of God; and 
the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth 
speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge." There is no 
place "where their voice is not heard" in clear, impressive utter- 
ance, saying: God is; that to God belongeth power; that His 
wisdom is infinite; that there is no searching of His under- 
standing. Thus the being, power and wisdom of God are 
revealed by the physical world, but this phj-sical world cannot 
think; it cannot feel; it cannot act, except as it is acted on. 
It is incapable of moral reflection, of conscientious moral 
exaltation, and of moral achievement. It cannot know pity, 
justice, mercy, love. But moral qualities — as justice, mercy, 
pity and love — are elements of the Divine character; and these 
the material universe, however vast in proportion, however 
resplendent in appearance, however exact and delicate in 
arrangement, and however beneficent in design, could never 
mirror. These features of the Divine personality could be 



THE LIFE WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 105 

reflected alone in the nature of a rational, sentient, spiritual 
and immortal being. Such a being is man. He thinks, he 
feels, he acts. He is capable of rising to immeasurable 
heights of moral elevation, where not a cloud of impuritj^ 
obscures the vision of the pure soul, as, in spiritual rapture, it 
contemplates the unveiled glor}^ of God. He is capable of 
emulating, on the earth and among men, the sweet charity of 
the Son of God, as, imbued with "the mind which was also in 
Jesus Christ," he goes about doing good, his whole life full of 
tender, loving responses to the sad cries of the poor, the needy, 
the sorrow stricken. And he is capable of reproducing in his 
own career the catastrophe, the moral heroism of the cross, as 
when for his country's, or for truth's, or for God's, sake, on 
battle field, mid carnage and blood, in defense of his country's 
rights; or at martyr's stake, enwrapped in devouring flames, 
in vindication of his soul's faith, or in patient, enduring, and 
unrequited toil for the neglected, the forgotten poor of the 
world, he gladlj^ willingl}^ surrenders his own life. This is to 
be Christ-like — God-like. This is the character, this the life 
into which men and angels may look and behold the image of 
God— the sympath}^, the justice, the kind mercy, the dear 
charity, and, within limitations, the achieving power of God; 
this character, this life, without which the heart of God could 
never have been imaged, shown forth in his works; and with- 
out which the moral beauty of the lyord our God could never 
have been known and enjoyed save by himself alone. As these 
thoughts come upon men, they become, to my mind, the 
mirrors in which I see the great soul, the beautiful life, the 
peaceful end of Thomas L. Nugent. No wonder the Alliance 
is for man. And no wonder Nugent was for the Alliance. 

Had evil never invaded the world, then into the soul of man, 
men and angels might have looked and might have beheld, as 
in a mirror, the image of God. But evil came. The image of 
God was effaced. The passions of men were " set on fire of 
hell;'' and they are still "set on fire of hell." Strong 
language, but Scriptural language — "on fire of hell." Greed 
of gain robs, steals, impoverishes, kills. Under its blood- 
reeking banners, lust of power marshals its black column of 



106 THK LIFE WORK Ol'^ THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

death to appropriate to itself that which is not its own, dealing 
ruin to men, women and children that the fell appropriation 
may be made. Political corruption defiles the sacred inherit- 
ances bequeathed by patriot ancestors. Anon conjugal infidel- 
ity covers families in the pitiable habiliments of unspeakable 
shame. Merciless coveteousness turns innocence and help- 
lessness into the streets to beg or starve; or, as it may be, 
and often is, to beg and yet to starve. O, let every mouth be 
stopped and the whole world become guilty before God. Yes, 
evil came and evil is. But, thank God, Christ came, and 
Christ is. And Christ came and Christ is, that as sin hath 
abounded unto the death of all things beautiful true and good, 
even so might grace reign, through righteousness, unto the 
eternal life, by Jesus Christ, our Lord. Of all things, beauti- 
ful, true and good, Christ is the life; and this — the love of the 
good, the true and the beautiful — is the life begotten of Christ 
Christ in the soul of man. And this divine life — the life ot 
love — is in the soul of every true, moral hero in the world, giv- 
ing back to that soul, in radiant, ineffaceable beauty, the 
image of God. Hence the Scripture: "Created anew after 
the image of God in righteousness and true holiness. ' ' And 
hence, and only hence, is to be realized that end for which the 
Alliance announces itself to be organized and laboring, and 
which it states in simpler language, "On earth peace, good- 
will toward men." 

The attitudes in which the constitution of nature, or rather 
God in constituting nature, has placed man as a social being, 
are multiform. In every one of these attitudes, both those 
which are inherent in the abstract fact of civilized social exist- 
ence and those w'hich are the result of the incidental vicissitudes 
of social life— in every one of these attitudes, of either class, in 
which an Alliance man may be placed, the obligations of his 
Order require him to be true to the relation, faithful in the dis- 
charge of its duties, and capable in the execution of the de- 
mands of the relation. It is a great and eflBcient school of 
instruction in which the common people themselves become 
their own mutual instructors, b)' lectures, essaj^ reading, and 
conversation, on the vital, moral, intellectual, social, civil, and 



THE I.IFE WORK OF THOMAS 3.. XTGEXT 107 

fitianrial questioiis, subject always to the guiding thougM. 

" Each of us. is to be an instrument in the hands of God in in- 
troducing the reign of Christ in the "world, through "prhich alor^e 
is to cx>me the manifestation, ■■ On earth peace. good-Trill 
toward men. " 

SOME SiiMABJKS CONC^:5L^n:^^G THE I;ECLAJlATIOX 
OF rSTE^CTIONS. 

No one knows at all what his own sribiective being is, except 
through conscionsness of what he is; and we know not at all 
what others are, exceptthrongh onr cbserraiion of the external 
expr^sion of themselves. If the moral or ethical principles to 
which a man says he gives his soul's adherence are tmiformly 
and consistently illnstrated in the deeds, the works of his life, 
then we know, as a mle, that these are the moral principles of 
the man. Hence we have, as onr gnide in onr judgments of 
the moral life of men, more their works tha r; their ethical codes. 
And yet, the code, the declaration of principles, is the standard 
of comjerison; and our intuitive percepiion of the fitness of 
things reqinres, or demands., tl:at the professor of a Mith shall 
live according to that iai th, whether it be a religious, or an 
ethical, or a pohticai iaith: and this because the faith confessed 
is taken as one's declaration of the state, or the condition of 
one's inner being; and truth requires that the external shall 
accord with the internal. Hence, in the case of a true and 
honest man, to know his moral creed is to know his moral life; 
to know his religious creed is to know his religious life; to 
know his political creed is to know his political life; to know 
his social creed is to know his social life; and to know his rreei 
and life in all things, is to know his character. And, ini ~ I 
a creed and life in anything involving the exercise of the moral 
faculties, are a revelation of character. 

Now, in so far as a code, or system of ethical principles, from 
a social standpoint, can reveal the social views and character of 

its adherents, I cc': ' t^ the reader the careful perusal of 

the Declaration of I s of the Farmers' Alliance. There 

he may see in dear, beauteous, tmdimmed reflection the image 
of the great and good Thomas L. Zx ngent, as :. - ' _ * ' -t 



108 



TTIK hum WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



is as a member of civilized Christian society-with us, society 
organized under the auspices of a free Republican government, 
whose citizens are under the tremendous responsibility of main- 
taining directing, and perpetuating that government, preserv- 
ing order, good will, harmony, justice, charity, and progression 
among it; fndividual citizens. And as you will behold through 
this medium the image of our ascended pohtical leader, so you 
win also behold the character of all true Alliance people. 

The first great principle in the creed of the social order or 
fraternity, imposes the solemn obligation, -"To labor for the 
education of the agricultural classes in the science of economica 
government, in a strictly non-partisan spirit." 'Higl^ thought 
are essential elements of high character. Read the hough 
ao-ain " To labor for the education of the agricultural classes 
in the science of economical government, in a strictly non-par- 
tisan spirit " Now think of the conceptions yet back of this 
thought, forcing the expression of the thought and making it 
one of the rules to guide in forming the citizen's character 
What are those conceptions? Here are some of them: ihe 
sovereignty of the American citizen; the immense responsibi li- 
tiesof that sovereignty: the appalling evils already resu ting to 
American society from the voter's lack of moral and intellectual 
qualification to meet those responsibilities; the priceless good to 
flow in uninterrupted streams of blessing to every heart and 
every home in all the land from the faithful meeting of the 
duties of citizenship; the ability to meet these duties to be found 
alone in moral and intellectual qualification; the farmer s occu- 
pation represents the most numerous class of voters; therefore 
we will organize an order, the aim of which shall be to qiiahfy 
ourselves, in the highest sense, for the solemn duties which the 
sovereignty of citizenship devolves upon us. 

Behold thisthoukht, together with its subhme correlations, 
and you see one of the strong, pure and beautiful columns in 
the temple of the character of every true Alliance man. Bu 
observe the caution with which weteach the member to conduct 
the study of government. It is to be done in a ' ' non-panis^i 
spirit " The just person goes to the Bible to learn what Chrs- 
tLs ought to be; so the just person should come to this Decla- 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 109 

ration of Intentions to learn what Alliance people ought to be. 
And as we cannot reject religion because some of its professors 
do not conform their lives to its precepts, so we ought not to 
condemn the Alliance because the lives of some of its members 
are not in harmony with the teachings of the Alliance. We 
know the danger of partisan spirit; and we therefore take special 
pains to exclude it from our order, that we may secure unpreju- 
diced investigation in questions pertaining to our government, 
its nature, correct administration, etc. We dread the virus of 
partisanism. 

The third principle requires all possible effort in the great 
work of mutual, moral, social and financial improvement of 
the agricultural cla.sses. What higher work can engage the 
efforts of man ? 

We insist on the financial improvement of the people, not, 
however, as an end in itself, but as a means whereby may be 
secured the intellectual, moral, .social and spiritual improve- 
ment of the people. We see that God has conditioned the 
improvement of the people in all these respects on the possession 
and the right use of wealth. We see that the laboring people 
are the producers of all the werJth; but we see also that, of all 
classes, they have the least of those opportunities, purchased 
by wealth, which are necessary conditions for the cultivation 
of the highest and noble.st states of being; and that they have 
the least of tho.se surroundings, or environment.s — also to be 
purchased by wealth— that happify domestic life. Our people, 
therefore, naturally conclude that an undue proportion of their 
earnings has passed into other hands; and that it is their duty to 
themselves and their families to change, if possible, this state 
of things. Already the country knows, from the "demands 
of the Farmers' Alliance, ' ' the conclusions to which their inves- 
tigations have led the members of this Order. They propose 
to stand by the.se demands. While the imagination is staggered 
in its efforts to grasp the proportions of the colo.ssal fortunes of 
multi-millionaires; while eloquent lips essay in vain to portray 
the wreck and ruin this unnatural accumulation of the results 
of the labor of the millions of American laborers into the hands 
of a few individuals has brought throughout the land in the 



110 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 

form of wrecked homes, blighted hopes, saddened hearts, 
dwarfed minds through lack of opportunity of improvement, 
immorality forced into character by the foul accompaniments 
of extreme and hopeless povert)'; and while the soul shudders 
in the presence of all this disaster, yet we have faith in our 
demands. We believe that, finally, these shall become laws ; 
and that thus the vast wealth produced by the people which 
now goes to increase the fortunes of the few, will be saved to 
the people themselves; and that cultivated minds, happy hearts, 
beautiful homes, social culture, schools and churches, and all 
the blessings that ought to belong to an industrious people, 
•living under a free and enlightened government, will be the 
heritage of all our people. 

This paper would be too lengthy were we to quote all these 
seven principles, and give to each the notice its importance 
demands. We can only refer the reader to the Bj^-Laws and 
Constitution of the Farmers' State Alliance. He wnll find 
them in full in their printed form, on the second page of the 
pamphlet. 

The good that has already resulted to the couiitry from the 
teachings and fellowship of this noble order cannot be told. 
Would to God that there were a sub-alliance in every farming 
community in the United States. How rapidl>- would the 
farmers and their families become improved "mentally, mor- 
ally, socially, and financiall3\" What a source of pleasure, of 
refining and elevating communion. 

Judge Nugent understood the grand ethical principles on 
W'liich this great fraternity is established, and comprehended 
the beneficent ends it proposed to accomplish for the laboring 
people, and, therefore, he gave to it his heartfelt sympathy and 
support; and because he thus bravely stood by our order, en- 
couraged and helped us, we give to him that place in our hearts 
and niemor}'- which we assign alone to our honored, revered 
and beloved dead. He was our friend; he was humanity's 
friend. We mourn his loss; but God has taken him unto Him- 
self. Sweet, rest to his pure spirit. 

Dr. Marshall McIlhany. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. Ill 

VIEWS ON THE LAND QUESTION. 

To the philosopher, jurist, patriot, and philanthropist, this 
must ever be a question of overshadowing importance The 
most momentous interests of man's mortal existence are insep- 
arably connected with land. The vastness of its proportions 
precludes, m ordinary minds, its proper appreciation, its ad- 
equate comprehension. Its very stupendousness prevents a 
clear conception, a correct judgment. Men cannot think 
clearly on infinite space, endless duration, or the self-existence 
ot God. Such things are too vast for the finite mind. They 
become vague and difficult of apprehension as they rise more to 
the view, and approach nearer to the infinite. Land bein^^ the 
physical basis of man's life, the workshop in which he toiband 
the storehouse from which he draws his every need, is as indis- 
pensable to his existence as is the atmosphere or the light 
True, the deprivation of air is more sudden in its fatality but 
not more sure. Cut off from him the products of land,' and 
starvation will cause his death as surely as will the denial of 
air to his lungs. And if a total deprivation of land and its 
products will surely destroy, then anything that partially de- 
prives will proportionately destroy. This theme is too stupen- 
dous to be treated here. 

To Judge Nugent's mind, land monopoly loomed up amon- 
questions of importance as Mont Blanc among lesser Alps or 
Shasta from the black forests of northern California. To him 
It had no rival. It dwarfed, overshadowed, nay, it annihilated 
in ultimate and fundamental import all other questions that 
touch man's right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- 
ness. To his philosophic eye it 

" Dared, though grim and terrible, to thrust 
Its miscreated front athwart the way" 

to man's earthly Eden. In it he saw, and saw clearly "That 
which enthralls and degrades and distorts, turning light into 
darkness and good into evil." From history, reflection and 
observation he deduced one important conclusion-that man 
has ever tyrannized over his fellows. With the simplicity of 



112 THK UFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

childhood, 3'et with the sagacity of the philosopher, he thought 
to detect the means b}^ which this had bt'cn done. He read, 
he reflected, he observed; he elicited and weighed the opinions 
of men, and after much patient and profound study, he adopted 
as his firm belief that the land question indeed presents "The 
riddle of the Sphinx, not to answer v/hich is to be destroyed." 
Finance, in liis estimation, was vast. It was inevitable; it v»^as 
pressing; it clamored for recognition, for treatment, for solu- 
tion; in short, it would brook no delay. Hence his speeches, 
his written opinions, his suggestions, his movements, bore 
directly, heavil}', on the money question. The transportation 
questioii also assumed huge proportions in his view. With his 
tender conscience, his quick perception of right, his ready 
revolt against injustice, he speedily and instinctively saw 
through the special pleadings, the cunning subterfuges, the 
ingenious devices, by means of which the railroads and tele- 
graphs have appropriated countless millions of the people's 
land and money. He comprehended how their enormous 
aggregations of wealth were acquired, were but appropriations 
of the fruits of labor done by other hands. All these truths 
were clear to his mind, as is shown elsewhere in this volume. 
But to the land question did he look in his search for the root 
and ultimatum of the rights and wrongs of man. In its solu- 
tion, he declared, v»hen unbosoming himself to men able to 
follow, understand and appreciate him, would be found the full 
measure of man's power to secure good and and to .suffer evil 
in mortal life. 

His views may be stated thus: 

He believed in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood 
of man. That all men are equally the heirs of God's bounty 
and the subjects of His care. 

That man's every faculty can be harmlessly exercised, his 
every desire iiuiocently gratified, his every want abundantly 
.satisfied, through simple obedience to the laws ordained by his 
Creator. That God has made no mistakes ; is no bungler. 
Hence when he created sunlight, air and laiid, he made enough 
for all the children of men living, or that will ever live upon 
the earth. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 113 

That while laying on man the necessity to labor in order to 
satisfy his wants, He has graciously furnished him the material 
for labor. This material is embraced in the term land. By 
" land " he understood "all substances of our world, from, the 
lowest depths beneath the surface to the highest realms in air 
to which man's dominion can extend." 

That this "material for labor," this "land," in the above 
broad sense, can never fail, can never fall short in supply, 
never become inadequate to the designs of its omniscient and 
omnipotent Creator and Giver. 

That there has ever been, is and always will be, an inex- 
haustible abundance of land for all of man's real needs. 

That all men have an equal and inalienable right to the use 
of land, and that any tradition, custom or power that denies 
or prevents this right is morally wrong. 

That a bounty of nature, as air, light, land, cannot by any 
process become private property. That only the products of 
labor, physical or mental, may be justly so claimed and owned. 
That occupancy and use only can give title to land; and that 
the title thus conveyed is not one of ownership but of posses- 
sion. That this title protects the possessor in the full owner- 
ship, use and property of all that his efforts produce on the 
land. He can sell, or lease, or bequeath, or remove, or de- 
stroy, the improvements, but not the bare land. 

In the history of the race, he viewed man in his resistless 
movements to a higher plane. He saw that each epoch raises 
and settles its own issues. That progress is merely the out- 
growing and casting behind one error or wrong after another 
and the adoption of truth and right instead. Thus religious 
freedom, trial by jury, freedom of speech, taxation with repre- 
sentation, popular government and individual liberty were the 
natural steps in the order of advance from priestcraft, despotism 
and slavery. 

What does all this signify ? To Nugent's mind, it meant 
that all men are created equal. Not in degree of physical or 
mental endowment, but in rights. The right to live, to pursue 
happiness, to be free. The right to receive with equal advan- 
tage and fullness the blessings of the common Father. 



114 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

Testing the economic conditions of his time by this central 
truth of God's equal care for all the children of His creation, 
he perceived their utter failure, their incongruity, their false- 
ness, their injustice, their cruelty, their wrong. As was said 
of Victor Hugo in one's criticism of " Les Miserables," " His 
seemed the glance of an almost super-mortal eye from some 
great height, over the vast sea of human sorrow." He saw in- 
dustry perverted, and God's universal bounties limited to a 
small number. He beheld a world, capable of yielding its rich 
gifts in unlimited fullness to every human being, .so occupied, 
used, or rather unused, and monopolized as to surfeit the few 
and to stint or starve the many. 

In all forms of government, monarchy, aristocracy, democ- 
racy, ancient, mediaeval and modern, he found these ghastly 
conditions manifesting themselves in proportion, not to the ac- 
cidents of climate, nor to the legal codes, nor the religious sys- 
tems in them prevailing, but in proportion to the degree in 
which land is monopolized and men are cut oflf from their right 
of access to it. Believing that ' ' the force of a state is in pro- 
portion to population, population in proportion to plenty, plenty 
in proportion to tillage, and tillage to personal and immediate 
interest, that is to the spirit of property, he judged that the 
nearer a citizen is to the condition of a free and entire proprie- 
tor, the more he contributes to the general prosperity of the 
state. ' ' He reasoned out some profoundly important conclu- 
sions. These conclusions rendered him universally philan- 
thropic and deeply politico-economic. In recognizing man's 
right to land, he clearly perceived the rights of labor. In short, 
he saw in the land question the ethics and the economics of hu- 
man rights. Convinced of truth, his was not the soul to be 
silent upon it nor to hesitate in his advocacy of it. This he did 
with a skill equalled only by his prudence. The value of land 
he declared to result from population. This value, created by 
the labors and wants of population, he thought belonged of right 
to the people, and should be taken by them and used for public 
purposes. His formula was: 

L,and without people, actual or prospective, has no money 
value. 



THE IJFE WORK OF THOMAS L. iXUGENT. 1J5 

Without people, there is no need of revenue. 
With people also arises land value or economic rent 
This need, accompanied as it always is with the land value 
should be satisfied, the one with and by the other, since both 
are due to the same cause -the presence of population 

I haveheard him say, " Every man, woman and child in the 
community aids in affixing value to, and maintaining it upon 
land, and when asked how he would explain or illustrate that 
general statement, he replied: 

Every one produces or consumes. The most helpless human 
being necessarily consumes, from the cradle to the grave 
While a I consume, many produce. Every living person need^ 
to be fed clothed and sheltered. Land is indispensable to the 
supply of these needs. Now if land is valued in proportion to the 
wants It can satisfy, and it can satisfy more wants when densely 
populated than when thinly populated, the people by their use 
of land give rise to its value, not by owning but by using it. 
Now al people must use land ; for all have to be fed, clothed 
and sheltered. The fewer the people who own the land the 
higher the price may be fixed which the users have to pay 
One man owning all the lands of the island on which New 
York City stands could extort more for their use than can be 
charged at present, because of his monopoly " 

Hence he would advocate the raising of reveliue from this 
source the annual rental value, the ground rent for economic 
rent, this creation of the people. He thought it the proper 
because the only just, source of revenue. He deemed this un- 
earned increment of land value the rightful property of all the 
people. But the taxing of personal property he thought, and 
declared to be, an act of communism. It is, as he thought the 
takn,g of private property and the making of it public property 
This IS communism. While to take land value, which is made 
by d the people, and use it for all the people as revenue, is 
stnctly just. 

He studied the history and statistics of taxation and saw that 
the vast natural deposits and sources of wealth, such as min- 
erals and forests, evidently the gifts of the great Creator of all 
are seized on by the few to the disinheriting of the many' 



116 THK IJFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

With the glow of righteous indignation in his eyes he once said 
to me : 

" Why should the absentee owners of timber lands, coal beds 
and iron mines, these three only, receive in royalties each year 
$450,000,000 on their products, though neither doing nor direct- 
ing the labor of taking them out ? Why should coal, iron and 
timl)er, needful to all and given to all, become the property of 
these idlers and be so restricted, so enhanced in cost, as to 
largely cut off the children of men from their possession and 
use ?" 

Thus did this unselfish and just soul rise above the mists 
that blind mercenary eyes, and from the plans of the absolute 
rule see the cruelty and wrong inseparable from the making of 
land private property. 

Referring to the royalties derivable from all natural sources 
of wealth, which he said ought to be paid, by those who were 
permitted to monopolize them, into the treasury of the public, 
where they would benefit all, he believed these royalties would 
amount to a sum sufficient : 

1. For all the needs of government, national, state, county 
and municipal. 

2. To educate every child reared in the Union. 

3. To support every lunatic, idiot and insane person. 

4. To provide respectable and respected homes for every 
unfortunate human being unable to earn a living. 

5. To construct, maintain ai:d operate all needed public 
utilities, as light, sewers, water, transportation, libraries, 
nniseums, etc. 

(>. To diffuse the blessings of a glorious civilization through- 
out the realm, bringing the jo3\s of closely associated life within 
reach of farmer, stockman, miner, factory operative and others, 
so that no one would need to be isolated from the happiness 
•enjoyable in being heir to all that the art of men can provide 
for human well-being. 

Indeed, he believed in possibilities of good to the entire 
people, by means of freeing personal property from all tax bur- 
dens and placing them on land- values, to an extent that he sel- 
dom referred to even in private, save to men of advanced and 



THE UFR WORK OP THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 117 

enlightened views. Others, lie knew, were wholly incapable 
of understanding them. The system he believed in, he thought, 
would simplify and cheapen government. Revenue thus raised 
would free labor from the crushing burdens now borne in the 
form of poll-tax, occupation tax, tariff duties and the expenses 
necessary to the support of custom houses, revenue cutters, 
baggage searchers, spies and understrappers, those costly 
appendages that under the specious pretense of protecting 
American labor and raising revenue, rob the people annually 
of millions of dollars of which one-fifth finds its way into the 
treasur}-. 

Such were the views of our departed leader. He held them 
clearly, firmly in his mind and soul. But Judge Nugent was 
no enthusiast, no dreamer of impossibilities, no introducer of 
moves impracticable in the passing hour. His was the full 
conception and appreciation of the reform needed. His was 
also the solid judgment able to perceive the difficulty in the 
way of its immediate accomplishment. His was the rational 
desire to do all that could be done and to prepare the way for 
doing more as opportunity should offer. Feeling that the 
people needed light on the great questions that are pressing for 
solution, he strove to afford as much as possible by his 
example, his precepts, his character, his life. Knowing the 
deep and tenacious hold which the money question had taken 
on the popular heart, he mastered for their instruction, its 
intricacies, its history, its statistics. These he set before them 
in those matchless addresses which even the opposing partisan 
has been heard to declare absolutely without flaw.-i- 

Often, too, he would make a luminous declaration on the 
great question of land, as it were, incidentally, but with im- 
portant design, viz.: to instruct on that point even when the 
main issue under discussion was money, or transportation, or 
tariff, or something other than land. In this there was seen 
the true tactician. While showing the robberies which char- 

* Note— I heard a learned legal light of the Democratic party declare 
that he had read three times through the speech delivered at Island 

Creek, on and was unable to find witliiu it a single position 

that could be successfully assailed. 



118 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS I-. NUGENT. 

acterize our financial sj^stem, or our railway system, lie would 
briefly, but clearly, lift the curtain which conceals from popular 
view the more cruel robberies of our land system. This he 
would do in obedience to the wise suggestion: 

"I\Ien must be taught as though you taught them not, 
And things unknown be told as things forgot." 

I have set forth a brief summary of Judge Nugent' s views 
on the land question. I have stated them in terms of pre- 
cision as I understood them. But let no one deem from their 
contrariety to those which generally prevail that he sought to 
press them arbitrarily or indiscreetly upon the adoption or even 
the attention of the people. Realizing that an intelligent grasp 
of a great trtith is the prerequisite to its successful application, 
his advocacy on this point was educative and preparatorj-. He 
ardently desired the people to bless themselves throtigh the 
means of land reform, but he desired that this blessing should 
come in answer to their understanding, their appreciation, 
their demand. Hence the significance of the explanation 
which he gave me of his intended treatment of the land ques- 
tion, should he be elected governor of the state. This he gave 
me on the occasion of his last speech in Hillsboro. Wearied 
from that effort he had lain down after dinner, and while rest- 
ing he answered me on that point. 

"Our system is fixed," said he, "and my duties will be 
simply to administer the land laws, as I trust I shall do 
other laws, faithfull}^ inflexibly, impartially. But it will be 
my duty to reconnnend to the legislature such measures and 
such action as ptiblic interest may demand. Believing, as I 
do, in the inherent vicioitsness of our present system of tax- 
ation, I would deem it my duty to point out its defects and 
to invite inquiry into the claims of a better system. Such I 
deem that outlined in the works of Henry George. In further- 
ance of such idea, I would urge the appointment by the legisla- 
ture of a tax commission to whom should be assigned the duty 
of making a full investigation of that subject, with all neces- 
sary advantages of time, means and opporttuiities. The infor- 
mation thus obtained I would wish to have published for the 



THE LIFE WORK OP THOMAS h. NUGENT. 119 

people, in order that the}- might learn the truth on this great 
question, and of their own sovereign volition demand its re- 
form." How progressive, yet how conservative! How zealous 
in his own views, yet how jealous of the rights of the people 
to manage their affairs in their own way ! How lo^-al to the 
Jeffersonian, the truly Democratic idea that there is nothing to 
be feared from error so long as truth is left free to combat it ! 

Finally, I give it as ray deliberate opinion that while pro- 
foundly convinced of the radical and incurable wrongs inher- 
ent in and inseperable from our system of land tenure, that no 
man in the Union would have surpassed him in the steadfast- 
ness of purpose with which he would, as governor, have 
cleaved to his duty of administering and executing the laws as 
they stand, while no one, perhaps, would be more clear, brave 
and outspoken in pointing out their wrong and urging the 
proper and just, legitimate and practicable methods to amend 
or abolish. 

A reformer he was, but not a revolutionist; an educator, not 
an iconoclast; a moulder who, with artistic touch and the inspi- 
ration of an idealist, would shape the plastic material falling 
into his hands into lovelier and more enduring forms; and not 
a dynamiter, who would first blow existing politico-economic 
ideas, institutions and forms into fragments and hope after- 
wards to reconstruct the disintegrated material into those 
shapes dreamed of in the mind of the socialist or the anarchist. 
No one, after knowing his character could fear to trust him. 
No one need fear the philosophy of his views on the land ques- 
tion. No one who is intelligently informed on that system can 
fear that any wrong or injustice can grow out of it. A philoso- 
phy that exists to-day and stands unanswered and unanswerable 
because of its exposure of those qualities of wrong, cruelty, and 
injustice that in our present system always have led to the hope- 
less pauperization of the millions and the engorged enrichment 
of the few called millionaires, can never be invoked to aid or 
abet an act or principle of injustice. The opposition to this 
philosophy has not its root in any fear that it will work injus- 
tice. Nay verily, it rather springs from the consciousness that 
this same philosoph)' will overthrow the very seat on which 



I'-'O THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGICNT. 

injustice has sat enthroned from before the foundation of our 
government. Feeling this, the opponents of this philosophy 
dare not discuss it. Hence the conspiracy of silence that broods 
over it. But it lives. It moves. It breathes. It shines. It 
grows apace. Nugent is dead. His frail frame is enclosed in 
its narrow house. But his thoughts, his conceptions, his rea- 
sonings, his conclusions, live and are immortal. His love of 
humanity, his sympathy for the poor, the toiling, the wronged 
and robbed of earth, can be seen and felt in all that he wrote 
or spoke while he lived. 

This sympathy is impressed on the hearts and consciences of 
the great common people whose rights he defended and whose 
wrongs he mourned. They know, they cannot but know, that 
Nugent's views on the land question, as on all other questions, 
were views that conform thoroughly to the principles of God 
Almighty's everlasting ju.stice, evinced, declared, enforced in 
His own eternal Word: " The land is mine, and shall not be 
sold forever, and ye are only strangers and sojourners in the 
land." J. G. H. Buck. 

* * * 

JUDGE NUGENT AND THE LABOR UNIONS, 

It has been said, that the literature of an age is the reflex of 
the times. If this be true, what a picture can be drawn in the 
imaginative minds of those who succeed us as they turn and 
peruse the pages of writings in the closing years of the Nine- 
teenth Century — what a spirit of unrest, a changing of ideals, 
and associated with this, a new seeking after truth and its re- 
lation to man's welfare — mentallj', physically, spiritually. The 
pages will be crowded with a recital of man's inhumanity to 
man, alongside of a truly Christ-like spirit, wherein will be 
truly practiced, as well as preached, the strange new doctrine 
of the Brotherhood of Man that found its strongest teacher in 
the lowly Nazarene nearly 2000 years agone. Along with the 
law of cause and effect, we find the reason for the existence of 
organizations and unions. Our form of government, founded 
upon a pr-nciple of justice to all, has yet strangely fostered the 



THK LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 121 

competitive system — the curse of the age, and the beginning of 
the miseries that, like the folds of a monster serpent, are draw- 
ing closer and deadlier with each succeeding year. Million- 
aires are evolved that multiply themselves by the thousands to 
represent the pauper. The laborer, in self-defense, must needs 
organize his unions and co-operative associations by means of 
which alone he can make known his wrongs, or demand his 
rights. 

With the aims and efforts of all these unions to advance or 
ameliorate the conditions of the workingmen, Judge Nugent 
was in fullest sympathy. The Farmers' Alliance, the Knights 
of Labor, the Brotherhoods of Railway-men, Printers, Mechan- 
ics, Brick-layers, Stone-masons, etc., — in short, everj^ organi- 
zation for the purpose of protecting the interests of the laboring 
man — had in him a friend. 

Among the principles enunciated by these unions, they de- 
clare "that the public lands are the heritage of the people." 
They demand, "the abrogation of all laws that do not bear 
equally upon Capital and Labor;" "the adoption of measures 
providing for the health and safety of those engaged in mining, 
manufacturing, etc. ; ' ' "the enactment of laws to compel corpor- 
ations to pay their employes weekly, in lawful money;" "the 
prohibition by law of the employment of children under fifteen 
years in workshops, mines and factories;" "that a graduated 
income tax be levied;" " to secure for both sexes equal pay for 
equal work ; " "to shorten the hours of labor; ' ' ' ' the establish- 
ment of a national monetary system in which a circulating me- 
dium in necessary quantity shall issue direct to the people, 
without the intervention of banks." 

The.se demands are but the outcries of the oppressed against 
wrongs endured. The first minor notes of woe have gained in 
strength and volume until they have drowned the tones of 
pleasure, and from sea to sea, from lake to Gulf, there is heard 
only the cries of despair from the man, strong in his sense of 
right and justice: the frenzied tones of mothers and the oft- 
times hungry pleadings of innocent childhood. It goes with- 
out saying that Judge T. L. Nugent was in sympathy with all 
these demands. He did not need to study them — to analyze 



122 THE LIFK WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT, 

them — as to whether he c )uld receive them in part or in whole. 
While his well trained legal mind could quickly grasp them as 
just and true, that well-directed innate consciousness of truth 
and justice, that was a part of his personality, reached out to 
these principles, recognizing them as parts of a stupendous 
whole, and they became to him parts of his religious life, beau- 
tiful in its desires, grand in its ultimate results. His religion 
was not one to be satisfied with Ego saved, while a world, 
his brethren, travailed in oppression and groaned under sorrows. 
It is one of the beautiful con.sistencies of a well-rounded life that 
holds within itself Kaleidoscopic manifestations, that whichever 
way the lenses are adjusted, we behold order and prismatic bril- 
liancy. In whatever light, from whatever point of view, was 
shown the character of our leader, there was always to be 'seen 
attributes of greatness that challenged admiration ; and withal, 
such modesty that accompanies the great in soul, as to silence 
even an opponent's envy. His life was a sublime object lesson 
to be conned in the heart of every youth toiling for bread in 
whatever avocation. The farmer boy, despondent over con- 
ditions where more work brings deeper poverty, will look to 
his teachings as a factor resulting, in time, for good to all. The 
toiling mechanic, feeling the bond of sympathy which lay 
between this Patriot and all who wrought of brain, or hand, 
takes heart, even in gloomiest despair. 

How significant of his singleness of heart, that he advocated 
no measures for mere vain-glory, or in a partisan spirit. He 
had faith in the principles of the Labor Unions, not only be- 
cause of their justice, but because of his belief in the principle 
of "the greatest good to the greatest number," and because of 
the individual benefits sought for the humblest laborer, over- 
worked in hours and responsibility, with quivering nerves, 
trembling at the frowns of plutocracy, and dreading dire re- 
sults. In these conditions, that Christ-like soul felt were 
individual reasons, multiplied into tens of thousands over our 
land, for better conditions. Life was to him no gala day to be 
spent in the sunshine with brightness and the richness of life's 
treasures. As his last words implied, it was taking upon him- 
self a duty wherein he walked in shadows and clothed himself 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 123 

in habilaments of mourning for a nation's wrong-doing. His 
was the torture of a refined soul which, recognizing sorrows 
took them into a loving heart where they nested. It is a shame 
of our boasted civilization, that conditions exist that become as 
liorrors to those who behold and seek to remedy them. That 
the weighing down of vitality, the exhaustion of nerve force, 
which he suffered was due to the fact that Judge Nugent lived 
and felt all these horrors, uo one who ever knew the man will 
for a moment doubt. He took those woes and griefs, toils and 
cares to his great heart and under the burden it broke. And a 
cause has been baptized to consecration with the life blood of a 
great and good, pure and true man. Of him it may be truly 
said, " He walked with God." 

Dr. E)llen IvAWSon Dabbs. 



THK UFH WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 125 



Speeches and Communications. 



THE ISSUE DEFINED. 



Hon. T, L. Nugent, People's Party Candidate for Governor, lays bare 
the Existing Political, Social and Financial Evils 



THAT HAVE THROTTLED OUR PROSPERITY. 



A Speech Teeming with Evidence of the Poverty, Oppression and Down-' 
trodden Condition of Our People, 



" Let US have peace," said Grant nearly two decades ago. 
The sentiment sent a thrill of sympathy through every South- 
ern heart. It was fondly believed that this language of the 
great Union general, whose magnanimous treatment of our own 
Lee had given him a warm place in the affections of our people, 
would serve to mark the beginning of a new era of peace and 
fraternity between the divided sections of our common country. 
And, indeed, if the politicians could have been quieted, this 
patriotic expectation would long since have been realized. 
Party success, however, had become the end of party organiza- 
tion and endeavor, the public good a matter of secondary 
importance, and with the decay of the old time devotion to 
principles, since those memorable words were spoken, the 
demagogues have continued periodically to swarm to the front, 



12fi THE IJFE WORK OF THOMAS 1,. NUGENT. 

filling" the political world with partisan clamor and strife, reviv- 
ing and fannini^ into fresh fury half-forgotten animosities of 
the past and driving from the arena of political action the 
really great men who might now successfully lead the old 
parties in the crisis through which the country is passing. A 
great thinker has said that " as institutions grow large, 
men grow small." It is so. The "rule of the ring" has 
been supreme in this republic of ours for the past thirty years 
and he wdiocan manipulate most skillfully the polilic-al machine 
secures the prizes of public life, the offices and spoils. Great 
men no longer lead the old parties because great men are men 
of soul, of humanit}-, of genius, of inspiration. They are 
never machine men. Fitted by nature to soar amid the stars, 
the}^ cannot sprawl in the gutter or court companionship with 
.slime. Capable men are no doubt working the party machines 
for the usual rewards, but the times demand great men to mould 
the elements of reform into proper shape, and they will come 
as the inspiration finds them amid the ranks of the common 
folk. The farmer of to- da)^ is a reasoning and thinking man, 
rejoicing in a new-found intellectual strength of which but lately 
he did not dream. Moreover, he has developed into an orator 
as well, and his rude and touching eloqiience flaming forth from 
heart and brain Inirning with a sense of injustice and wrong, 
stirring the hearts of plain people as the)^ were never stirred be- 
fore. Behold the leaders of that new crusade against conditions 
that make \irtue impo.ssible and against inequalities that stamp 
labor with the curse of all the ages ! 

Meanwhile leaders of democracy, who have inherited from 
Jefferson nothing but a few well-worn formulas of speech, and 
leaders of republicanism, to whom the humanity and unique 
greatness of Linx'oln have value onl}- in firing the hearts of the 
faithful and impelling them to renewed efforts for party success, 
marshall their political hosts on the two sides of the sectional 
line where every four years they .stand in solid array, glaring 
at each other with the old-time hate gleaming in their eyes. 
This has been the unhappy political status for thirty years. 
The South can always be trusted for her votes by Wall street 
democracy, but never for a place on the national ticket. Con- 



THE IvIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 127 

tributing the funds, Wall street has always claimed the right 
to dictate the candidates and the financial policy of the country, 
and thus, from Seymour to Cleveland, so-called sound finances 
and the business interests of the country have, on the election 
of candidates, been matters of chief concern to the party leaders. 
Wall street must, at any cost, be appeased. The big bankers 
and money lenders, the stock jobbers, the men who bull and bear 
the market, must be kept in good humor, must, indeed, be sat- 
isfied that their special privileges are not to be taken from them, 
otherwise campaign funds must dwindle and party success be 
jeopardized. 

Thus both parties have tacitly agreed to ignore the silver 
issue and leave the gold standard intact. What does Wall 
street care for the tariff question, so long as slie controls the 
finances ? With even free trade, control of the money of the 
country would give her control of the prices, control of wages, 
of usury, of the property and the labor of the country. What 
more could she have under protection ? But parties must have 
issues, and the tariff and bloody shirt issues are, of all issues, 
least of all hurtful to Wall street. Hence it is that the old 
quarrel over the tariff and the force bill is to be renewed, while 
the money kings rub their hands gleefully and watch with de- 
light the ' ' sham battle ' ' whose ' ' clamor ' ' drowns the cry of 
distress that conies from the farm, the workshop and the fac- 
tory. L,abor is in chains, while the politicians, are skurrying 
over the country repeating political platitudes, holding up tariff 
schedules in one hand and the " bloody shirt " in the other, 
vainly endeavoring to head off the moving column of reform 
as it advances to victory. It will not win. Kansas, where the 
preliminary battles of the great civil war were fought, recently 
gave a lesson of reconciliation and peace in the nomination of 
an ex-member of Lee's staff for congressman-at-large — a nomin- 
ation in a People's party convention, and seconded by 172 ex- 
Union veterans. The second great lesson was given at Omaha, 
when, in the greatest convention of this convention 3'ear, the 
gallant, maimed ex-Confederate, Field, was named for second 
place on the People's party ticket. The third great lesson 
will come next November, when the noble, magnanimous 



12S THK LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

people of the North and South, thrilled by the examples of 
Kansas and Omaha into forgetfulness of the war and its ani- 
mosities, shall rise to the height of the great occasion and call 
Weaver and Field to preside over the destinies of this great 
republic. 

But why, let me ask, is Wall street so deeply interested in 
any political action touching financial questions? The answer 
does not lie very far off. At the termination of our unfortun- 
ate civil war there was in actual circulation among the people 
of the United States $1,863,409,216 of paper money in various 
forms, interest bearing and non-interest bearing. Among this 
currency were included the greenbacks — something over $400,- 
000,000 — which bore no interest and soon after the war rapidly 
appreciated in value from 46 to 71 per cent as measured by 
gold value. At this time the people of the United vStates, ex- 
cept in the South, where the desolations of civil war had car- 
ried poverty into every home, were enjoying almost unexam- 
pled prosperity. The spirit of enterprise and speculation per- 
vaded all rank^ of society; money sought investment in useful 
industries; labor was employed and tramps were unknown. 
Secretary McCullough, an apostle of the "single gold stand- 
ard," said, in his report of December, 1865, "We have about 
$2,000,000,000, nearly all in circulation among the people;" 
and again in the same report says: "Business is nearly all 
done on a cash basis, the people are generally out of debt, 
those who want work can get it at good wages, all branches of 
business are flourishing, and the people are prosperous and 
happy." The secretary here describes almost an ideal social 
and industrial condition, and, strange to sa}', refers to that 
condition as affording a favorable opportunity to retire our 
paper circulation and prepare for the resumption of specie pay- 
ments. On December 18, 1865, the' house of representatives 
passed this resolution in response to McCullough 's recommen- 
dation: 

"Resolved, That this house cordially concurs in the views 
of the .secretary of the treasury in relation to the necessity of 
a contraction of the currency, etc.," and afterward, on April 
12, 1806, passed the act which, together with the act of March 



THK IJFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 129 

3, 1865, made provision for the withdrawal and destruction ot 
the paper circulation and the funding of it in interest-bearing 
bonds. Under these two acts $363,409,226 were thus retired 
and funded; and by the year 1870 only $691,028,377 of the 
vast sum in circulation just after the war remained in use 
among the people. Indeed, this vast contraction was, in the 
main, effected prior to February 4, 1868, when congress passed 
the act forbidding a further reduction of the currency. Now, 
it will doubtless surprise our democratic friends to learn that 
the act of 1866, under wliich this policy was chiefly made 
effectual, was passed by the following vote: Senate, yeas 32, 
nays 7; house, yeas 83, nays, 54. Only five democratic votes 
were cast in the senate, all yeas — the nay votes being all re- 
publican. In the house 28 democrats voted yea, and only one 
nay; 'while 53 republicans voted nay; same number yea. 
Could responsibility for a vicious and fatal policy be more 
clearly made out? The republicans were equally divided in 
the house. The one single democratic vote cast against the 
act would, therefore, have defeated it had not 28 democrats 
come to the relief of the bankers and money lenders by voting 
in the affirmative. The effects of the policy thus fastened 
upon the country have been calamitous beyond human estima- 
tion. But it did not stop wuth the passage of this act. The 
principal of the bonds into which the circulating paper money 
had been thus converted at an enormous discount, and the in- 
terest of which was payable in coin, was, by the act of March 
18, 1869, declared to be payable in "coin or its equivalent." 

Thus the bonds of the government were enhanced in value 
about 25 per cent. — the difference between coin and the paper 
money in which, prior to this act, they were payable — and thus 
the bond holders received from the government a mere gratuity 
of more than $400,000,000. But the bond holders required 
.something more than a statutorj^ declaration — their right must 
be placed beyond cjuestion, and so we find a servile Congress, 
on July 14, 1870, enacting the funding bill " which authorized 
the sale or exchange at par for the other bonds of $15,000,000 
of interest bearing l^bonds to run ten, twenty and thirty years 
with interest and principal payable in coin. Having thus se- 



130 TIIIv UFIC WORK Ol'^ THOMAS I,. NUGENT. 

cured the exchange of their IkjikIs, payable, as many believe, 
in lawful money, notwithstanding the credit stiengthing act 
for bonds expressly payable in coin, the next step was to make 
the latter payable in gold and this the bond holders effected by 
the acts of 1873 and 1874, which first eliminated the standard 
silver dollar from the coinage of the country and afterward de- 
monetized it. The infamous conspiracy was finally completed 
and made efiectual by the resumption act which still further 
contracted the currency and placed the business, the property 
and the labor of the country in the hands of a concentrated 
money power in whose interest the government has been since 
run. The blighting and devastating effects of this whole policy 
can best be seen from the following tables showing the annual 
circulation, number of annual mercantile failures and the decline 
in prices: 

Circulation Per Capita. 

YEAR. POPULATION. CIRCULATION. PER CAPITA. 

1865 26,000,000 $1,639,127,386 $70.77 

1866 35,819,281 1,863,409,216 52 01 

1867 36,269,502 1,350,949,218 37 51 

1868 37,016,949 794,756,112 2147 

1869 37,779. 8(;0 730,705,639 19 34 

1870 ;]8,558,371 691,028,377 18 70 

1871 39,750,073 670,344,147 16 89 

1872 40,978,607 661,641,365 16 14 

1873 42,245,110 652,896,762 15 45 

1874 43,550,756 632,032,773 14 51 

1875 44,896,705 630,427,609 14 04 

1876 46,284,344 620,316,970 13 40 

1877 47,714,828 586,328,074 12 28 

1878 48,955,306 549,540,087 1123 

1879 50,155,783 534,124,248 10 65 

1880 51,660,456 528,524,267 10 23 

1881 53,210,269 610,632,433 1148 

1882. 54,806,577 657,124,084 1197 

1883 56,550,714 648,205,895 1148 

1884 58,144,235 591,476.978 10 17 

1885 59,888,562 533,405,001 8 90 

1886 61,685,218 470,452,221 7 63 

1887 63,535,774 423,452,221 6 67 

1888 65.000,000 398,719,212 6 10 

1890 65,000,000 306,999,982 4 72 



THK J.IFK WOKK OF THOMAS J.. NUGENT. 131 

FAILURES IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The failures iu the United States from 1865 to 1889 were: 

Year. Number. Liabilities. 

1865 520 $ 17,625,000 

1866 632 47,333,000 

1867 2,780 96,666,000 

1868 2,608 63,694,000 

1870 3,551 88,244,000 

1871 2,915 85,252,000 

1872 4,069 121,036,000 

1873 5,183 228,499,000 

1874 5,830 155,239,000 

1875 7,740 201,000,000 

1876 9,092 191,117,000 

1877 8,872 190,669,000 

1878 10,478 2.34,483,132 

1879 6,658 98,149,053 

1880 4,735 65,552,000 

1881 5,582 86,155,935 

1882 6,738 102,000,000 

1883 9,184 172,874,172 

1884 10,968 226,343,427 

1885 11,211 267,348,264 

1886 12,292 229,288,238 

1887 12,042 335,121,888 

1888 13,348 247,659,956 

1889 13,277 312,496,742 

Total 162,338 $8,945,598,824 

The above table will not agree with Bradstreet because he 
does not include failures for less than $10,000. We have 
included all in the table given, and have added a per cent, for 
failures compromised or settled. 



132 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



RECAPITULATION . 

Calendar To*al Prodnctiou Total Area of Crops Total Value of 

Year. Bushels. Acres. Crops. 

1867 1,329,729,400 65,63(3,444 $1,184,037,300 

1868 1,550.789,000 66,715,906 4,150,500,583 

1869 1,491,612,100 69,557,766 1,101,884,188 

1870 1,629,027,600 69,254 016 697,423,018 

1871 1,528,776,100 65,061,951 911,845,441 

1872 1,664,331,680 68,280,197 874,594,459 

1873 1,538,892,891 74,112,137 919,217,273 

1874 1,454,180,200 80,051,289 1,015,530,570 

1875 2,032,235,300 86,86:5,178 1,030,277,099 

1876 1,963.422,100 93,920,619 935,008,844 

1877 2,178,934,646 93,150.286 1,035,571,078 

1878 2,302,255,950 100,956,260 913,975,920 

1879 2,437,482,300 112,260.950 1,234,127,719 

1880 2,718,193,501 120,926,285 1.361,497,704 

1881 2,066,029.570 122,388,070 1,470,959,200 

1882 2,699,394,496 126, .-.68, 520 1,479,693,393 

1883 2,629,319^688 100,633,556 1,780,765,937 

1884 2,992,880,000 136,292,766 1,184,311,520 

1885 3,015,429,000 135,876,080 1,143,146,750 

1886 2,842,379,000 141,859,656 1,162,161,810 

1887 2,660,457,000 141,821,315 1,204,289,370 

1888 3,209,742,000 146,281,000 1,320,255,398 

Especial attention is called to the above table of recapitula- 
tion. It shows that in lS(i7, 05,636,000 acres in cultivation 
produced 1,329,729,000 bu.shels of all kinds of grain which .sold 
for $1,184,000,000; while in 1887, twenty years subsequent, 
141,821,000 acres produced 2,660,457,000 bushels which sold 
for only $1,204,289,000. That is, the product of 1867, from 
less than one-half as many acres and half the amount, brought 
the farmer $79,711,000 more. It is impo.ssible to charge this 
wholesale destruction of values to over-production. It was a 
want of ability to purchase cau.sed by a shrinkage volume of 
currency and nothing el.se. In 1867 we had $37.51 per capita 
of population; in 1887 we had less than $7.00. 

The foregoing tables, with accompanying remarks, were pre- 
pared by Mr. N. A. Dunning, a most careful, painstaking and 
reliable .statistician and writer on economic questions. 

It cannot be doubted that the national bankers were chiefly 



'PHti; LII^e; WORIv of' THOMAS L. NUGEN'T. 133 

instrw-mental in fastening this policy upon the country. Nor 
can it be doubted, that occupying a central position in the 
monetary system — being, in fact, the very pivot upon which it 
revolves, the banks will, without a revolution in the politics of 
the country, continue to shape the whole course of our financial 
legislation. Indeed, we now have, only in a more elaborate 
and extensive form, the financial system and policy of Great 
Britain, including the " gold standard." 

H. H. Gibbs, an ex-governor of the Bank of England, says, 
in an article in the British National Rcvieiv for July, 1883, that 
the following ideas, being precisely those of the Economist, are 
constantly pressed upon the English public : 

"England is a creditor nation. The scarcity of gold has 
made that metal more valuable; and she must continue to be 
still more the gainer if gold become scarcer still. Is it to be 
expected that she should throw away this advantage? " (Phil- 
osophy of Price, page 129. ) 

Mr. John H. Palmer, one of the directors of the Bank of 
England, testified in 1847, before the " secret committee" ap- 
pointed by Parliament to investigate the management of the 
bank, that "there is no means of supplying the bank with 
gold excepting only the diminution of the bank notes, which 
immediately con tracts the currency and lowers prices by increas- 
ing the value of money." He further testified that this 
method of supplying the bank with money, which he justified, 
" destroys the labor of the country." Gold, being now prac- 
tically the only money of ultimate payment in Christendom, 
every nation is bidding for it. To bring it in, the banks con- 
tract the currency, and thus cut down prices and "destroy 
labor." It is this fatal power, lodged in the Bank of England, 
that induced Mr. vSealy, in his book on coins and currency, 
published in London in 1833, to say, " The commerce of the 
country is now in the power of the Bank of England, as it 
was before the legislature. . . . Instead of a mercantile 
system, supported by merchants and manufacturers and agri- 
cultural interests, we have now the monetary system endanger- 
ing the welfare of the merchants, manufacturers and agricul- 
tural interests, for the benefit of the fund-holding classes." 



134 YHit LiFlv VVOKK OF 1*HOI\iAS I. NUCiENf. 

Our bauks have the same power of contracting the curreuc}^ 
and are moving forward steadily toward the accomplishment 
of the end for which they have struggled so long — the legal 
enactment of the ' ' gold standard. ' ' This attained, their 
power will be full and complete, and that the supremacy of 
either of the old parties under its present leadership will bring 
to them this long-desired consummation of their cherished 
schemes, no one who reads aright the signs of the times, can 
seriously doubt. Senator Mills, who in 1886, while advocat- 
ing the free coinage of silver, declared that ' ' there is no 
curse in existence like the contraction of the currency , ' ' and 
showed that because of the demonetization of silver, the farm- 
ers of the United States, on four leading crops, lost $1,300,- 
000,000 in one year. He is now in Texas, flying from place 
to place, astride his century-old tariff horse, waving the 
bloody shirt and belittling the silver issue. Wall street's cup 
of joy must now be full to the brim. Meanwhile, the banks, 
in anticipation of the continued war against silver and no doubt 
intending to bulldoze the people into the support of the gold 
standard, are making their contracts payable in gold coin, and 
it may be mentioned as another significant fact, that Henry 
Clews, the great banker of New York, recently addressed a 
letter to the secretary of the treasury urging him to sell $25,- 
000,000 of gold bonds to the banks to be used by them as a 
basis for banking. It was shown by Senator Buck, in a speech 
delivered by him in the United States senate, January 12, 1894, 
that in 1862, when our first bonds were issued, up to 1874, 
when the senator made his speech, the bondholders made a 
profit of more than $1,000,000,000, the exact figures being 
$1,012,537,205. The paper money exchanged at par for bonds 
was bought at a discount, and the profit referred to consisted 
of this discount — the difference in value between gold and 
greenbacks — and interest thereon. Truly a paternal govern- 
ment, the grateful bondholder will say. The bondholder, how- 
ever, who of course is largely the banker, was not to be satis- 
fied with a beggarly $1,000,000,000. 

In 1866 our national debt amounted to $2,783,000,000. Of 
this we have paid, up to the year 1890, on principal, $1,599,- 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 135 

665,312; as interest accrued, $2,540,726,049; and as premium 
on bonds, $58,340,000, making an aggregate paid on the pub- 
lic debt to the year mentioned, $4,198,931,361. In 1890 there 
remained still due on the public debt, $1,183,334,668. Had 
the debt been payable in wheat it would have required in 1866, 
1,007,000,000 bushels to discharge it. In consequence of the 
decline in prices it would have required in 1890, $1,958,389,- 
084 to pay the balance of the public debt then due, after de- 
ducting the enormous payments referred to. In 1867 it would 
have required 7,092,000,000 pounds of cotton to pay the entire 
public debt, had it been thus payable. In 1890 the balance of 
debt then due would have required for its payment, 11,752,- 
518,000 pounds of cotton. I am indebted to Mr. Dunning for 
these figures also. They can easily be verified, and they show, 
as clearly as the sunshine, that, if measured by labor and its 
products, our public debt is to-day greater and more burden- 
some than it was in 1866, notwithstanding the enormous pay- 
ments referred to. If payable in cotton at last year's prices, 
the prospect for productive industry in the South would be dark 
indeed. 

But this is not all. The census bulletin, issued by the chief 
of the census bureau, shows that in 1880 nine North Atlantic 
states — Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Penn- 
sylvania — had 29 per cent of the population of the United States, 
and that during the decade ending in 1890, they secured 41 per 
cent of all the wealth gained in the Union; while the twenty-one 
states — Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indi- 
ana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska — with 56 
percent of the population in 1880, secured during the same 
decade only 23 per cent of the aggregate wealth gain of the 
country. And yet the nine states mentioned contain 168,665 
square miles of territory while the twenty-one states contain 
985,635 square miles. Moreover, the nine states in 1880, had 
an aggregate assessed value of $7,559,928,915, while the twenty- 
one states had in the same year an aggregate assessment of 



136 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

$6,839,554,628. Thus the nine states with little more than half 
the labor, about one-sixth of the land, and about the same 
amount of capital, secured, during the decade mentioned, nearly 
twice as much of the aggregate wealth gain of the country, as 
the twenty -one states. Again comparing the State of New York 
the financial center, with West Virginia, Virginia, North Caro- 
lina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, lyouisiana, Ten- 
nessee, Kentucky-, Indiana, Illinois', Iowa, Kansas and Nebras- 
ka, fifteen states, we find that, in 1880 the fifteen states had 
nearly four times as much population as New York and about 
one and one-half times as much assessed value, and that their 
territory', as compared with that of New York, is nearly sixteen 
to one. Yet N-ew York gains, in the decade mentioned, 
$6,197,719 more wealth than the fifteen states. The following 
clipping from the Dallas Nczvs of August 15 would seem to 
indicate ihat the enormous wealth gain of the North Atlantic 
states is not likely to suffer any curtailment under the foster- 
ing care of the McKinley bill: 

"The Mills Growing Richer — Cotton Manufacturers More 
Prosperous Than Ever Before. — Fall River, Mass., Aug. 14. — 
Published returns from mills here for the past quarter show 
they are now enjoying the most prosperous season ever known 
in cotton manufacturing in Fall River. Thirty-one corpora- 
tions representing 46 mills have paid dividends of $538,880 on 
a capital of $18,128,000. The total dividends paid for the cor- 
responding quarter last year amounted to $233,250. In addi- 
tion the mills have added as much more to their surplus reserve 
funds, and most mills have unburdened themselves of debts and 
interest accounts and made extensive alterations and addi- 
tions." 

Thus it is plain to see that the manufacturing and financial 
centers have no reason to complain of present conditions. 
Gorged to repletion with the good things that a paternal gov- 
ernment has showered upon them for lo, these many years, 
what care they if barefoot Texas women and children pick 
6-cent cotton to supply their mills, or Kansas farmers raise 10- 
cent corn to pay interest on their mortgages? 

But this is not all. The farmer from 1850 to 1860 found 



THE LIFE \\ORK OF THOMAS L. XTGENT. 137 

himself in possession of about 70 per cent of the national 
wealth, and growing richer each year. The gold mines of 
California were annualh- adding to the circulation, enhancing 
prices, emploj-ing labor, and diffusing prosperity" through all 
the avenues of our social, commercial, and industrial life. 
Farm values went up and farm products commanded ready 
sale at good prices. The farmer's sons and daughters, as they 
grew up and married, were easily provided for and settled 
around the old homestead, or at least within convenient reach 
of it. But what a fate has overtaken this plodding, conser\'a- 
tive, brave, and honest citizen. Poverty" and debt press him, 
taxes press him, freight rates press him, and it has become his 
hard and burdensome lot to toil from January to December for 
the bare necessities of life. Wife and children must relinquish 
the small comforts and luxuries which once were within their 
reach. The boys, as they grow up to manhood's estate, vanish 
from beneath the paternal roof to seek their fortunes in the 
fascinating and mysterious west; but, alas! they find no west 
that promises fortune. The speculator, the railway, and the 
syndicate have preceded them and occupied the ground. The 
railroads own 2S1,000,000 acres, foreign and domestic syndi- 
cates own SJ:, 000, 000 acres, making a total of 365,000,000, aud 
687,906,375 are in farms. There is probably not now left of 
our vast public domain more than an average of three acres 
per capita of our population, and much of this is barren or 
desert land, unfit, for many reasons, for occupation bj- the 
home seeker. Thus cut off by the polic}- of our government 
from access to the cheap public lands, is it wonderful that such 
a large portion of our people are tenants — that, in fact, over 
700.000 farmers in the United States are compelled to share 
their crops with landlords? 

But not only are the money and lands monopolized but the 
railroads as well. In the present adjustment of our social and 
industrial life, railroads, as a means of exchange and distribu- 
tion, have become an absolute necessity. The use with which 
a railroad is charged, being public in its character — being in 
fact the exercise of a function belonging more to government 
than to private individuals — there is the same reason for reduc- 



138 THE I-IFK WORK OF THOMAS h. NUGENT. 

ing rates of traffic on these lines of transportation as ex- 
ists in favor of a reduction of public taxation. Every person 
feels that high rates of taxation are burdensome and hence the 
demand for the reduction of public expenditures to the neces- 
sary expense of government economically administered. A 
moment's reflection will serve to convince au}^ candid mind that 
the same rule should apply to the expense of operating that 
system of inter-communication by which the products of labor 
are exchanged and the social and business life of the country is 
so largely maintained. Certainly, agencies which affect every 
member of the political community and which largely determine 
and give shape to the complex relations and functions of soci- 
ety — which in fact deeply affect and involve its organic life — 
ought not to be mere matters of private speculation and gain. 
The inter-communication of intelligence and the exchange of 
wealth products by the railroad and telegraph certainly lie at 
the very foundation of our industrial, and thus of our social 
well-being, since our complex social life finds expression (evolu- 
tion) in our complex industrial system and their maintenance 
must be seen to be rather a function of government than of the 
individual. And government ought to take care that the ex- 
pense of maintenance shall be reduced to the minimum, like 
any other public tax. 

With this in view, the enormity of the tax levied upon pro- 
duction by the railway and telegraph systems of the country 
may be appreciated when it is understood that of the $10,000.- 
000,000 of stocks and bonds representing the nominal cost of the 
railway system of the country, approximately one-half is ficti- 
tious or watered, and that the gross income derived from the 
operation of this system amounts to more than $1,000,000,000, 
a sum probably exceeding the entire amount of money in 
actual circulation among the people. The net earnings of the 
sy.stem for 1890 are put down in table No. 220 of the Statistical 
Ab-stract at $346,921, :U8. 

But while the manufacturer, the banker and bondholder and 
the railroads thus levy tribute upon the productive forces of the 
country, the government adds to its own increased burdens. 



THE LIFE WORK OE THOMAS h. NUGENT. 139 

Look at these figures showing appropriations b^' the congresses 
and for the years named : 

Congress. Time. Appropriations. 

Forty-third 1875-76 $633,794,000 

Forty-fifth 1879-80 704,527,000 

Forty-eighth 1885-86 655.269,000 

Forty -ninth 1887-88 746,342,000 

Fiftieth 1889-90 817,963,000 

Fifty-first 1891-92 988,417,000 

These figures are correct, as they have the endorsement of 
Senator Gorman, a prominent Democratic candidate for the 
presidential nomination, who contends that the annual expen- 
ditures of the government are " ju.stly growing." He is also 
the Senator who justified the building of a great navy as a 
means of subsidizing ' ' the great steal industries. ' ' 

Around us on every hand may be seen the evil results of the 
vicious policy which I have but briefly outlined; and the.'^e 
results may be gathered up and expressed in the statement that 
for thirty years past in this great republic, dedicated in blood 
to human liberty and the rights of man, the ' ' rich have been 
growing richer and the poor, poorer." A million tramps, 
homeless and hopeless wanderers, trudge along our highways 
and gaze despairingly over illimitable areas of unused land, 
monopolized and withheld from settlement by the speculator, 
the syndicate and the corporation, for the sake of the "unearned 
increment ' ' — that deep and ineffaceable stigma upon our states- 
manship and civilization. For the tramp no flower blooms, 
the grass does not grow, and Mother Earth, with her generous 
bo.som, affords no nourishment. A fugitive and vagabond, no 
human sympathy follows him as he flies from the face of his 
fellow-man, only to find rest when crime forces him within 
prison walls or the grave opens to receive his wasted and 
wearied body. But the tramp is fortunate in at least one 
respect — he has found his way out of the cities into the countr}-, 
where beggary may prolong his useless existence. Thousands 
of poor in our cities are less fortunate. ' ' In New York fortv 
thousand working vv^omen are so poorly paid that they must 
accept charity, sell their bodies or starve. In one precinct 



140 THK IJFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

twenty-seven nuirdered babies were picked up, six iu vaults." 
In California, girls are paid wages ranging from $1.12 to $1.90 
per week. " In the sweating establishments of Chicago," says 
the Sociologic News, "the wages paid girls and women range 
from $1.00 to $5.00 a week, dishonor or death being made a 
necessity." The same authority says : " The average wages 
paid street car drivers in Ohio is $1.53 per working day of 
twelve hours and thirty-five minutes. The average pay of men 
in street car stables is $1.37 a day, working eleven hours and 

a quarter In the Pennsylvania mining regions the 

miners receive $178.40 a year. Out of this pittance they pay 
to the mining companies for the hovels they occupy 40 per 
cent, of the value of the hovel." 

But here is another picture. There are 9,000,000 mortgaged 
homes in the United States. In the last decade tenant farmers 
have increased in nuniber, in Kansas more than 20 per cent, 
and more than 11 per cent, in Ohio. Texas alone had, a few 
years ago, 66,465 tenant farmers, leading all of the producing 
states except Illinois. 

I have alluded to the decline in prices. This will strikingly 
appear from the following comparison of prices b}' decades: 

From 1860 to 1870, averat(e price of wheat per liushel |1 99 

From 1S70 to 1880 " = " ' 138 

From 1880 to 1889 " " " " " " 107 

Price at this time 80 

From 1860 to 1870, average price of corn per bushel 96 

From 1870 to 1880, " " '• " " " 63 

From 1880 to 1889, " " " " " " 46 

Price at this time 38 

In 1870 wheat brought $12. 76 per acre; in 1890, $8.60; loss per 
acre, $4.16. Corn brought in 1870, $18.74; in 1890, $8.73; loss 
per acre, $10.01, Rye brought per acre in 1870, $19.75; in 1890, 
$6.26; loss per acre, $13. 49. Cotton brought per acre in 1870, $32; 
in 1890, $9.96; loss per acre, $22.04. In like manner it maybe 
shown that there was a loss on barley of $12.57 and on oats of 
$9.79. The aggregate loss on these crops will run up to many 
hundred millions, but falling prices* and shrinking values only 
affect the farmer, the laborer, the artisan, the producer and the 



THK LIFK WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 141 

worker. The bond holder still clips his coupons and draws 
gold from the treasury, the banker to the same pleasing per- 
formance adds the taking of increased usury and the manu- 
facturer still holds his clutch on the market by means of the 
protection against competition which a compliant government 
gives him. As a result, society is rapidly dividing itself into 
two classes — the very rich and the very poor. Look at tliis 
statement, compiled by a most accurate and conscientious statis- 
tician, of the wealth of the United States: 

200 people are worth 14,000,000,000 

400 " " " 4,000,000,000 

1,000 " " " 5,000,000,000 

2,500 " " " 6,250,000,000 

7,000 " " " 7,000,000,000 

20,000 " " " 10,000,000,000 

31,100 " " " 136,250,000,000 

Thus it appears that one-twentieth of one per cent of our 
population own three-fifths of the entire wealth of the country. 
We had but few millionaires in 1860; now the number is 
estimated at 31,000; in 1860 there were no tramps, now there 
are from one to two million. In New York alone there are, 
it is said, 1,000 millionaires. There the extreme contrasts 
appear. As a leading journal recently said, *' thirteen dollars 
a month for .some, thirteen dollars a minute for another. On one 
side whole families crowd together in one room, on the other a 
palace rivaling those of the crowned heads of Europe. Here 
are men looking through garbage for a piece of mouldy bread; 
there a man spends $700,000 for a stable and $300,000 for a 
pleasure boat." Is it not plain that the conditions that have 
produced such results in a country like ours, teeming with 
inexhaustible, undeveloped wealth, cannot be made to yield to 
any half remedy? 

The Republican party, refusing to believe that these condi- 
tions are vicious and wrong, offers no remedy ; the Democratic 
party concedifig that, in some respects, the country needs re- 
lief, proposes " tariff for revenue only." Mr. Cleveland, in 
responding to the connnitte'e which notified him of his nom- 
ination, only discussed the tariff question and the force bill, 



142 THE LIl'K WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGlvNT, 

and it ma}' fairly be assumed that these two questions are 
those alone on which the Democratic party appeals to the 
country. The plank favoring the removal of the discrimin- 
ative tax and bank circulation is evidently not adopted in re- 
sponse to any demand for an increase of the currency, as 
the platform contains no recognition of such demand. On the 
contrary, the .silver plank involves unmistakable repudiation 
of such demand. I am aware that some Democrats have the 
hardihood to assert that it is a declaration in favor of free silver, 
but the evidence is overwhelming to the contrary. 

The New York Times approves this plan and says of it : "It 
shows that public sentiment is being enlightene'd and that the 
demand for free coinage of silver has been, on the one hand, 
much exaggerated, and on the other hand, that it has yielded 
to the campaign of education in which Mr. Cleveland has been 
leader." The Chicago //<?;'a/af says : "The Chicago silver 
plank is, on the whole, so good that it is surprising that it 
should have been accepted by the raonometalists with so little 
ado on the floor of the convention. ' ' The New York World, 
the leading democratic journal of the country, says, by the 
silver plank, the democratic party " indorses the position taken 
by Senator Sherman himself in a rational moment, " and further 
says of this plank, " one of the best statements of the evils of 
free and unlimited silver coinage that has appeared to any po- 
litical platform is contained in the concluding sentence of this 
plank." Ex-Congressman H. ly. Muldrow says, referring to 
the democratic nominees : "I believe the ticket will be a win- 
ner. Cleveland represents certain money interests in the North- 
east, and is considered a safe man by the big financial men of 
New York.'' To the query whether the financial (silver) 
plank difl"ered from that of the republicans, Mr. Whitney, Mr. 
Cleveland's manager, replied: " In no respect that I know of ; 
but it reads better. ' ' The New York Joiuiia/ of Finance says : 
" With either Mr. Harrison or Mr. Cleveland in the presiden- 
tial-chair, a free silver measure is safe from being made a law 
i)y the executive sanction." The same paper says, .speaking 
of the free silver bill lately passed by the United States Senate: 
" The people of the United States, moreover, are favored, too, 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 148 

in the fact that for four years more they need have no fear that 
this wicked onslaught upon the national integrity can find favor 
with the chief executive, for it matters not next November 
whether the successful candidate shall be General Harrison or 
Grover Cleveland, the plotters and the plunderers will meet an 
opponent who is neither a demagogue nor in sympathy with 
demagogues, nor yet to be cowed by demagogues. The United 
States is in no nanger of free silver despoliation. 

Our own Senator Coke, in a great speech delivered in the 
United States senate, April 26, 1892, after the nomination of 
Mr. Harrison but before Mr. Cleveland's nomination, used the 
following language: " The executive department of the gov- 
ernment, in all its branches, from Ha5''es' administration to 
Harrison's, including Cleveland's, has been most thoroughly 
and completely under the control and influence and dictation of 
the great capitalistic combination which has just scored another 
victory against the people on the silver issue. All these admin- 
istrations made bitter, savage war on silver and left no means 
untried to discredit and break it down and debase it." Again 
he says: " All of these administrations, from the president 
down to the lowest reporting official of the treasury depart- 
ment, in messages and reports, denounced silver coinage, urged 
its abandonment, denounced the $346,000,000 of legal tender 
notes as a debt of the government which should be paid, and 
the notes taken out of circulation, retired and cancelled, al- 
though not a cent of interest runs on them, advising the coun- 
try that gold and national bank notes should be our only circu- 
lating medium, with subsidiary silver coin for purposes of 
change. " And says the same distinguished .senator in the same 
speech: " No bolder or more audacious defiance of the popular 
will has ever occurred in the history of any government, 
whether republican or monarchial, than for nearly fifteen 
years has marked the course of the executive department 
of this government in its dealings with the silver question," 
and still again, "Secure in the nomination of President 
Harrison by the republican party . . , this combination 
(referring to the British American syndicate of bankers 
and bond holders which he says * proved .stronger than the 



144 THE LIFE WORK OE THOMAS E- NUGENT. 

people') is now giving its undivided attention to placing at 
the head of the democratic ticket a name which, like that of 
President Harrison, is backed by a record which of itself is a 
guaranty that free silver coinage will be an impossibility if he 
should ever become president." Cleveland has been nomma- 
ted the •' syndicate of bankers and bondholders has proved 
stronger than the people," and the senator still advises us all 
to remain in the democratic party and vote for Cleveland-pre- 
sumably to perpetuate an "audacious defiance of the popuar 
will" for the sake of maintaining the unity of the old party 

Senator Mills thinks that the question of the free coinage of 
silver is an unimportant one, as it would put in circulation only 
about $15,000,000 per annum. Has it occurred to this distin- 
guished gentleman that Cleveland and the financiers of New 
York would scarcely make such a noise over an unimportan 
matter^ Why such unprecedented opposition to the silver bill 
at the late session of congress if it could only have added an 
insignificant amount to the circulation? The senator himsel, 
in 1880, in advocating free silver, eloquently and nobly said: 
"The objection to the free coinage of silver is because it will 
increase the volume of circulation that measures the value o 
labor It will make money cheap, but will make the stroke of 
the arm dearer. It will make clothing dearer, it will make 
corn and cotton dearer, it will make wheat dearer, but it will 
make every day of toil bring a better price than it is now 
worth. Thebest condition of every people is that in ^ which 
labor receives the highest possible reward for its toil. Hie 
senator was then arguing for an inflation of the currency by 
restoring the "people's money (silver) to the mints on equal 
terms with gold as it was years ago."_ That was six year. 
ago Has investigation changed his views, or has the tanft 
issue grown to such proportions that it fills his range of vision 
and by comparison, dwarfs and obscures all other public ques- 
tions/lf the senator's love for the special topic upon which 
his eloquence never flags has not led him to -^--e^^-^^^^^^ '^ 
silver issue, it may be that the effect of the -^ f ^^^^ ^ '^^^ 
silver coinage has not been duly considered by him This act 
virtually converts silver, so far as coined under its terms, into 



THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 145 

credit money. Coin certificates issued under its provisions 
are redeemable in either gold or .silver and the policy of the 
administration is to redeem them in gold. The follow^ing, 
taken from the Dallas News of the 16th in.st., may throw .some 
light on this subject: "An Unusual Demand — The Govern- 
ment Met It Promptly and I,.et Loose Its Gold — New York, 
Aug. 15. — A crucial test of the policy of the government was 
made yesterday when Ickelheimer & Co. tendered $1,000,000 
in treasury notes, issued on account of silver purchases, and 
demanded for them $1,000,000 in gold to be .shipped to Ger- 
many tomorrow. 

"The treasury ofl&cials paid the $1,000,000 in exchange for 
the treasury notes and the load was carted away and put on a 
steamer. The transaction caused some excitement, as no home 
institution in the history of the country ever made such a de- 
mand, and the impression in many places is that the firm took 
the step more to see if they could get it and force a crisis. Ex- 
Treasurer Roberts was at the sub-trea.sury when the gold was 
being carted away and admitted that it was the first time such 
a demand was ever made, although heretofore gold was given 
for old gold and also for treasury notes. He said: 'No steps 
have been taken by the administration to prevent or obstruct 
the export of gold. The government stands ready to meet all 
its obligations in gold and will pay them. The free gold bal- 
ance is now $112,000,000.' 

' ' By this statement it is clear that the government is already 
decided upon the plan to pay all the silver treasury notes in 
gold if demanded." 

Silver, under the polic}' here disclo.sed, can no longer be 
regarded as money of ultimate payment. It does not pay 
principal or interest on the public debt, nor will it be allowed 
to redeem its own certificates of deposit. Besides, while our 
own government has been repudiating silver, the banks, always 
alive to their own interests, have been retiring their own circu- 
lating notes, having reduced their circulation from $352,464,788 
in 1882 to $162,221,046 in 1891, meanwhile increasing their 
holdings of specie from $109,984,111.04 in March, 1882, to 
$18-'], 575, 075. 91 in September, 1891. Only recently, Henry 



146 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

Clews informed Secretary Foster that the banks held $63, ~ 
000,000 in gold alone. One ought not to wonder that the coin- 
age of silver should not have realized all of the expectations of 
its friends in the face of the opposition of all the money kings 
aided by all the power of both Republican and Democratic 
administrations. And if the Sherman Bill of 1890 is repealed, 
as the Democratic platform requires, this will leave silver com- 
pletely demonetized and degraded. We will then be where 
Cleveland intends we shall be — on the " gold standard." 

But the question of remedies should be considered in relation 
to the problem of the proper distribution of wealth. The pro- 
duction of wealth would doubtless be largely increased by free 
trade, but it could not secure an equitable distribution of wealth 
■products. Tariff for revenue only, if practicable at all with 
half a billion dollars revenue to raise annually, would doubt- 
less afford some relief, as would any reduction in import duties, 
but it would have no effect to distribute the wealth of the 
country more equitably than the system of high protection. 
In so-called free trade England the rich still grow richer and the 
poor, poorer — millionaires and paupers are the joint products 
of their economical and industrial system. There, as here, the 
hovel rests in the shadow of the palace, starvation overtakes 
thousands, and a large section of the humanity of the United 
Kingdom is literally rotting down in poverty and crime, in the 
very presence of the palaces which shelter the chiefs of finance, 
trade and the factory. 

Besides, if the tariflf for revenue is the single and only rem- 
edy, how was it that immediately after the war, with an abund- 
ant circulation and a war tariif enormously protective, the 
country prospered as it never prospered before ? The Democratic 
platform demands tariff for revenue only, but it does not 
specify what rate of duty would constitute such a tariff, nor 
does it show what rate would be necessary to maintain our na- 
tional revenues as now fixed, nor does it propose any reduction 
in the pension charges or in any other expenditures, so as to 
bring the annual revenues within the limits of a strictly revenue 
tariff. To be sure, the free list may be somewhat enlarged, 
but if the Springer bills at the late session, or the Mills bill of 



THE LIFE WORK OE THOMAS E. NUGENT. 147 

1888 are to furnish the rule, then the free list under Demo- 
cratic policy must be luiderstood to include free raw material 
with high protective duties on the manufactured product. How 
will all this effect a proper distribution of Vv^ealth ? Besides, 
are we to presume that the protected industries of the country, 
and particularly the protection Democrats of the east, will not 
successfully oppose any radical reduction of the tariff? It seems 
idle to assume any such thing. The Cleveland platform of 1884 
makes this declaration: " From the foundation of this govern- 
ment, taxes collected at the custom house have been the chief 
source of federal revenue. Such they must continue to be." 

With this distinct committal to the tariff as the chief source 
of federal revenue and our annual appropriation "justly grow- 
ing," (as Senator Gorman declares), how are the Democrats 
going to get the country down to a strict revenue tariff — one 
not involving the principles of protection? A lower tariff will 
doubtless increase the revenues, but this, with $500,000,000 of 
revenue to raise, must be protective. Why, the Democratic 
house at the last session passed a river and harbor bill appro- 
priating, if I am correctly informed, $48,000,000. This does 
not justify the expectation that public expenditures will run 
down materially under Democratic rule. But listen to what 
Henry George, the most philosophical and accurate thinker 
on the question of free trade in this country, says, in the 
book which Democrats published in the Congressional Record as 
a campaign document : ' ' The abolition of protection would 
tend to increase the production of wealth — that is sure. But 
under the conditions that exist, increase in the production of 
wealth may itself become a curse — first, to laboring people, and 
ultimately to society at large." Again: "In countries like 
Great Britain there is still a large class living on the verge of 
starvation, and constantly slipping over it — a class who have 
not derived the slightest benefit from the immense productive 
power, since their condition never could have been worse than 
it is — a class whose hal)itual condition in times of peace and 
plenty is lower, harder and more precarious than that of 
.savages." Again: " Tliis fact (that the laborer finds it harder 
and harder to get a living in the United States) destroys the 



148 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

assumption that our protective tariff raises and maintains 
wages; but it also makes it impossible to assume that the aboli- 
tion of protection would in any way alter the tendency which, 
as wealth increases, makes the struggle for existence harder 
and harder. This tendenc)' shows itself throughout the civil- 
ized world, and arises from the more unequal distribution which 
everywhere accompanies the increase of wealth. In England the 
same tendency has continued to manifest itself since the abolition 
of protection. . . . The depths of poverty are as dark as 
ever, and the contrast between want and wealth more glaring. ' ' 
Again: " The entire abolition of protection— the mere substi- 
tution of a revenue tariff for a protective tariff-^is such a lame 
and timorous application of the free trade principle that it is a 
misnomer to speak of it as free trade. A revenue tariff is a 
somewhat milder restriction on trade than a protective tariff. ' ' 
Again: "The problem we must solve, to explain why free 
trade or labor saving invention or any similar cause fails to 
produce the general benefits we naturally expect, is a problem 
of the distribution of wealth." 

Indeed all history and the commonest dictates of reason teach 
us that as conditions now are in the United States, no mere in- 
crease in the production of wealth could bring adequate relief 
to the toiling and over-burdened masses. Free trade would 
enhance production and while, as Mr. George shows, it might 
benefit the laborer by increasing his wages, such benefit would 
be temporary only — the concentration of wealth would still go on 
as in England, and all of the evils resulting from an unequal 
distribution of wealth might appear in even an aggravated 
form. Tariff for revenue onl}^ under present conditions is only 
a question of schedules of greater or less protection. The dem- 
ocratic party with its national leadership composed of such men 
as Gorman, Brice, Whitney and others, not only opposed to 
.silver but to greenbacks as well, friendly to national banks and 
identified by social and pecuniary interest with the classes who 
live and thrive on monopoly and legislative favoritism, has a 
herculean task before it. Senator Mills, with his fervid and 
highly imaginative nature, full of southern chivalry and elo- 
quence, no doubt has persuaded himself that a revenue tariff 



THK LIFE WORK OK THOMAS L. NUGENT. 149 

will create and distribute wealth, destroy monopoly, open the 
vaults of the banks and bond holders and send the money so 
long hoarded there, in vitalizing streams, to every nook and 
corner of the country; but the difficulty of impressing such 
views upon the cold-blooded national le^idei's referred to stamps 
his undertaking as the task of the century. 

But I submit that the platform of the people's party does pre- 
sent a far more comprehensive and reasonable plan of relief than 
that offered by the democracy. We propo.se, in the first place, 
to set ourselves in undying opposition to land monopoly — to so 
shape the policy of the government that the public land .shall 
be used only by the actual settler, and to reclaim it from cor- 
porations, as far as practicable. This will prevent any monop- 
olization of the public lands in the future for speculative 
purposes. 

In the next place, we place in our platform a declaration of 
principle which lies at the foundation of any real reform on 
questions of taxation. ' ' Every dollar taken from industry 
without an equivalent is robbery." A protective tariff violates 
this principle, and we stand pledged to remove protection from 
our tariff as soon as it can be safely and properly done ; and in 
order that this may be accomplished, we favor a graduated in- 
come tax which will enable us to greatly reduce the amount of 
revenue to be raised by duties on imports. By means of this 
supplementary tax, there is no doubt that we can raise largely 
more than one-half the revenue now derived from import duties, 
and thus be able to reduce tariff taxation and afford relief to 
farmer and laborer. By availing ourselves of the income tax 
and resolutely applying ourselves to the task of limiting " all 
state and national revenues to the necessary expenses of gov- 
ernment, economically and honestly administered," we shall 
be able to enter upon the policy of " progressive free trade "■ — 
thus conforming our political action to the declaration of the old 
democracy as contained in the national democratic platform of 
1856 — the memorable declaration in favor of "free seas and 
progressive free trade throughout the world. ' ' But knowing 
that reform must be as comprehensive as the evils to be cor- 
rected, and that a mere reformation of tax systems cannot rem- 



150 Tlllv IJPK WORK OF THOMAS I,. NIKJKNT. 

cdy evils growing out of false systems of finance and transporta- 
tion, we propose : 1st. A currency "safe, sound and flexible," 
issued directly to the people by the government, without the 
intervention of the banks. 2d, Free coinage of silver. 3d, 
Increase of the circulating medium to $50 per capita ; and 4th, 
Government ownership of railroads. In advocating the free 
coinage of silver, we put ourselves in line with the traditions 
and teachings of the "old democracy," all of whose great 
leaders, from Jefferson down, believed in bi-metalism. From 
1792 to 1873 the silver dollar was coined upon equal terms with 
gold, and no war was ever waged upon it till the fund-holding 
classes of England and the United States organised the fight in 
1873 which, by corrupt means, succeeded in having the silver 
dollar dropped from the coinage, and afterwards, in 1874, in 
causing the complete demonetization of silver. 

National banks were always the pet aversion of the old 
democracy. Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Albert Gallatin, 
Dec. 13, 1793,' writing of the national banking system, said: 
"This institution is one of the most deadhMiostility existing 
against the principles and forms of the constitution. ' ' On an- 
other occasion he writes: "I believe that banking institutions 
are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Al- 
ready they have raised up a money aristocracy that has set the 
government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken 
from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly 
belongs. Let banks exist, but let them bank upon coin or 
treasury notes." Thos. H. Benton, speaking of the national 
banks, said: "The government ought not to delegate this 
power if it could. It was too great a power to be trusted to 
any banking business whatever, or to any authority, but the 
highest and most responsible wdiich was known to our form of 
government. The govenunent itself ceases to be independent, 
ceases to be safe when the national currenc}- is at the will of a 
company. ' ' 

Calhoun says: "Never was an engine invented better cal- 
culated to place the destiny of the many in the hands of the 
few, or less favorable to that equality and independence which 
lies at the foundations of our free institutions." Again he says 



THK LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 151 

in the same great speech: "It is the remark of a profound 
statesman that the revenue is the state, and of course those 
who control the revenue control the state, and those who can 
control the money power can control the revenue, and through 
it, the state with the prosperity and industry of the country in 
all its ramifications." The national democratic platforms from 
1840 to 1856 contained this plank: 

"That congress has no power to charter a national bank; 
that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to 
the best interests of the country, dangerous to our republican 
institutions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to 
place the business of the country within the control of a con- 
centrated money power and above the laws and will of the 
people." 

This additional plank appears in the democratic platforms of 
1840 and 1856: 

"Resolved, That the separation of the moneys of the gov- 
ernment from banking institutions is indispensable for the 
safety of the funds of the government and the rights of the 
people. ' ' 

It will be seen that our opposition to national banks is sup- 
ported by the teachings of Jefferson, Calhoun and the other 
great leaders of democratic thought, as well as by the platforms, 
the traditions and history of the old democracy. Who can fail 
to admire the fight of the old party under the leadership of 
Jackson and his successors, in favor of free trade and against 
national banks ? Complete separation of the government and 
its revenues from banking institutions was the old slogan 
of democracy until the civil war and the vicious conditions 
produced by it induced forgetfulness of the warnings of 
the fathers. Since the war, look at the leaders of democracy — 
August Belmont, Manton Marble, W. H. English, Calvin 
Brice, Senator Gorman, Samuel Tilden, Samuel Randall, Gro- 
ver Cleveland, W. C. Whitney, Daniel Manning and others of 
like kind. All of these men have favored national banks and 
a protective tariff. Some of them are interested in national 
banks, and are in favor of maintaining the present financial 
system — all have opposed greenbacks and free silver coinage. 



152 THE LIFE WOKK OK THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

all favored the national banks and the gold standard. The 
democratic platforms since the war have never expressed any 
opposition whatever to national banks and have three times 
favored tariff for revenue with incidental protection. The plat- 
form of 1876, upon which Tilden was elected, denounced the 
republicans for not having paid off atid retired the greenl^acks, 
the non-payment of which it declared to be a " disregard of 
the plighted faith of the nation." This was the great reform 
platform which, in addition to avowed hostility to the green- 
backs, proposed a system or plan of resumption which would at 
no time alarm ' ' the public mind into a withdrawal of that vas- 
ter machinery of credit by which 95 per cent of all business 
transactions are performed," thus plainly referring to and 
endorsing the national bank system. 

Mr. Bayard, Cleveland's secretary of state and a pronounced 
anti-free coinage man, in a public speech during the campaign 
of 1880, in New York, used this language: " I have seen it 
charged that the Democratic party were foes to the national 
banks, but I am at a loss to know the authority for this. 
The platforms of the part)^ contain no such suggestion and ad- 
mit of no such construction, in that for the second place on our 
ticket we have named Mr. William English of Indiana, one of 
the ablest financiers and business men in the whole country, 
whose management of the affairs of a national bank, of which 
he was president, was conspicuous for success." The heads of 
the treasury department under Mr. Cleveland recommended 
and urged the cessation of silver coinage and the retirement of 
the greenback circulation — advising that the greenbacks be 
funded in bonds to be " issued onl}^ to national banks present- 
ing greenbacks" to be funded, the bonds to be " available only 
as a deposit to secure national bank circulation and to entitle the 
bank depositing them to receive circulation notes to the amount 
of their face." In addition to this manifestation of extreme re- 
gard for the national banks, Cleveland caused $60,000,000 to 
be deposited without interest with certain favored national 
banks, taking their bonds only for the return of the principal. 
Thus in violation of the principles of the old Democracy, the 
money of the govennnent was mingled with the funds of bank- 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 153 

ing institutions, to be by them loaned at enormous rates of in- 
terest to the people. Of course the banks love and support 
Cleveland. 

But it will be observed we propose the government shall issue 
directly to the people paper currency, not in unlimited quanti- 
ties but enough to bring the aggregate circulating medium up 
to $^0 per capita, such currency to be full legal tender. Mr. 
Whitney, the national banker of Los Angeles, California, who 
has carefully investigated the subject and written most learned- 
ly upon it, says that this is a safe limit, and it is well known 
that France, with less capacity than the United States to absorb 
currency, has in circulation more than $50 per capita and it is 
prospering by its use. 

McCullough, the great Scotch economist and the editor of 
the article on money in the Encyclopedia Britannica, says : 
' ' Thus it appears that whatever may be the material of the 
money of a country, whether it consists of gold, silver, iron or 
paper, and however destitute of intrinsic value it may be, it is 
yet possible, by sufficiently limiting its quantity, to raise its 
value to any conceivable extent." 

Recardo says : ' ' By limiting the quantity of money it can 
be raised to any conceivable value. It is on this principle that 
paper money circulates. Though it has no intrinsic value, yet 
by limiting its quantity, its value in exchange is as great as an 
equal quantity of coin. On these principles it will be seen that 
it is not necessary that paper money should be payable in specie 
to secure its value. ' ' 

Prof. Bonaby Price says : ' ' Experience has proved that 
inconvertible paper need not suffer depreciation in value. ' ' 

Mr. Calhoun says: "I now undertake to affirm, without 
the least fear that I can be answered, that a paper issued by 
the government with the simple promise to receive it in all of 
its dues would, to the extent it would circulate, form a perfect 
paper circulation which could not be abused by the govern- 
ment; that it would be as steady and uniform in value as the 
metals them.selves. " Mr. Calhoun further contended that the 
amount of such currency would be determined by the law of 
supply and demand, and cites the case of North Carolina who, 



154 THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

just after the revolution, with an annual revenue of much less 
than $100,000, issued between $400,000 and $500,000 of legal 
tender paper which she successfully maintained at par with gold 
and silver. The means of getting this money to the people must 
be determined by the government. We favor the sub-treasury 
plan of the Farmers' Alliance, unless some better scheme 
should be presented. Thus we hold ourselves free to co-oper- 
ate upon this line with the old parties upon any feasible plan 
of relief which may commend itself to our mind as superior to 
the sub-treasury. So far no remedy has been suggested look- 
ing to an increase in the circulating medium, except " wild-cat 
bank paper, ' ' for which we could hardly be expected to exchange 
the sub-treasury plan. 

With respect to the railway quCvStion, we favor a commission, 
with power to fix and maintain rates — looking to government 
ownership as the only final and adequate solution of the prob- 
lem. For myself, I believe in a strong commission law confer- 
ring full power upon a commission to regulate and control 
railroads and to fix and maintain rates. I believe, however, 
that a commission, organized under such a law, should proceed 
with great caution, seeking always to do " equal and exact 
justice ' ' to the people and all interests involved. In the nature 
of things, however, the commission can not take from produc- 
tion the burden which our system of railway transportation puts 
upon it. It concedes that railroads are the private property of 
the corporations and must necessarily leave to the latter to de- 
termine the number and kind of officers, agents and employes, 
their duties and compensation. Hence, in adjusting rates, so 
long as these roads remain private property the commission 
must concede to the owners the right to fix the amount of op- 
erating expenses, the amount to be expended in betterments, 
etc. Hence the burden of the present rates must very largely 
remain ; and when, in fixing rates, the commission drops to a 
point at which the roads cease to produce a reasonable income, 
as viewed from the standpoint of the owners, litigation must 
inevitably result, or a struggle in some form with the commis- 
sion — all calculated to weaken and impair this form of regula- 
tion, possibly to destroy its usefulness. At best, in my judg- 



THE LIFl-; WORK OF THOMAS I<. NITGKNT. 155 

ment, the remedy is a partial one, liable to great abuse, and if 
thrust into politics, likely to engender periodical bitterness and 
strife — to bring on, in fact, a war between the railroads 
and the people not favorable to a just and reasonable set- 
tlement of the great question of regulation. Government 
ownership, I verily believe, will obviate all of these troubles. 
The cost of the roads need not be more than $5,000,000,000. 
Mr. C. Wood Davis, himself a practical railroad man of large 
experience and especially learned on this subject, says, in the 
Arena for June, 1892, that, estimating the cost of the roads at 
$30,000 per mile, the total value of the 160,000 miles of roads 
in the United States will be $4,800,000,000; but adding 25 
per cent, to this and assuming that $6,000,000,000 of 3 percent, 
bonds are issued to pay for the roads, he finds the annual show- 
ing, under government ownership, to be about as follows : 

Expenses. 

Interest on bonds $180,000,000 

Cost of maintenance and operation. . . . 670,000,000 
Sinking fund 50,000,000 

Total annual expenses $900,000,000 

The present cost per annum of operating the system is $1,- 
050,000,000 — balance saved by government ownership, $150,- 
000,000. He further in the same paper shows various other 
savings amounting in the aggregate to $160,000,000, and makes 
this remark: " It would appear that after yearly setting aside 
$50,000,000 as a sinking fund, there are the best of reasons for 
believing that the cost of the railway service would be some 
$310,000,000 less than under corporate management." It will 
be seen that there is no suggestion here of issuing $10, 000, 000,- 
000 of paper money to pay for the railroads, neither is there 
any such suggestion in our platform. The newspapers repre- 
sent Senator Mills with charging us with such a design. Possi- 
bly the wish is father to the thought; possibly the distinguished 
senator would be glad, for the sake of the Democratic party, if 
we had proposed to issue nine billion promi.ses to pay, as in the 
case of the French assignats, predicated, as John I., aw 's bank 



156 THE IJFE WORK OK THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

issues were, upon unsettled lands in some distant country. 
Possibly Col. Mills would be glad if he could place to our ac- 
count the $150,000,000 annual appropriation made necessary 
to pay pensions under a bill largel}- supported by good Demo- 
crats — an appropriation which the Chicago convention failed to 
include in its otherwise comprehensive and frantic denuncia- 
tions. The senator should not fight an imaginary twelfth plank 
in the People's party platform. He was present at Chicago 
when his party platform was constructed, and justly received 
from his party friends distinguished recognitions of his pres- 
ence. Pity his great influence was not use to induce his party 
to levy a thunderbolt at the law that has run our pension bill 
up to the enormous sum mentioned. Pity he permitted his 
party to avert its virtuovis face from this enormous expenditure 
and that provided for the river and harbor bill, and to content 
itself with furious denunciations of the corrupt head of the pen- 
sion bureau. But political life is full of such inconsistencies. 

Nearly 1900 years ago ago a wonderful man, well known 
to history, but not much talked of in political parties, made his 
appearance in an oriental country. He was an embodiment of 
truth. Plain people gathered around him and heard him speak 
with delight. I presume because he spoke and lived the truth 
the emanations from the truth of his life and words charmed 
and attracted such folk. It is not written that he drew to him 
those in authority, the wealthy or the elite of society. How 
could he do so, seeing that he was but an humble man and was 
clothed in the coarse garb of a mechanic ? But on one occasion 
he went up " into a mountain " away from the multitude and 
when a few simple-hearted men (his disciples) gathered 
around him, history records it that he preached a sermon 
which has come down through all ages, and by common con- 
sent contains more truth than can be found in all the sermons 
of all the great divines who ever occupied the sacred desk. 

One remarkable thing he said: " Whatsoever ye would that 
men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." This 
sublime utterance has so impressed the human- mind that men 
in Christendom, without exception, call it the "golden rule. " So 
it is; but the author earned by its utterance the crown of thorns 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 157 

and death on the cross. Social and industrial justice has 
since that time been denied to the toiling and suffering classes, 
because truth has been on the cross wearing the crown of 
thorns. But truth is abroad once again among the common 
people, as of old; it is calling its own and its own is hearing 
the call. They are crowding to the front as in that olden time 
and thank God that times are now more auspicious than they 
were then. The inspiration leads them. They do not threaten, 
but they demand justice. All the vituperation that can be 
hurled at them, all the derision, all the denunciation known to 
the political vocabulary cannot turn them to the right or left. 
Thirty odd years ago many of them stood before the blazing 
cannon's mouth in defense of an abstraction. The burden of 
all the ages is now upon them — the heaped and piled up burden 
of injustice and wrong. To the idle thunderbolts of politicians, 
such men can only answer with a smile. The banner of right 
waves above them; they are moving to victory. 



the; life work of Thomas l. nugent. 159 



JUDGE NUGENT AT SAN MARCOS. 



REFORMERS WERE THE THEME OF HIS ADDRESS. 



Democratic Degeneracy — The Tariff and Silver Questions — Beginning of 
Christian Socialism — Transformations. 



San Marcos, Hayes Co., Texas, July 21. 

Judge T. L. Nugent arrived in this city on the early morn- 
ing train, and at 11 A. m. addressed a large concourse of people 
on Chautauqua Hill. After having been introduced by Dr. 
P. C. Woods, a stanch Democrat, in a few courteous remarks, 
Mr. Nugent said : 

There have been reformers in every age of the world. His- 
tory is full of their schemes, their successes and defeats, their 
heroic lives and martyr deaths. In the temples of religion and 
the halls of legislation, in the forum and on the hustings, they 
have thundered denunciations at wrong and pleaded the cause 
of right. Political wrongs, social wrongs, religious wrongs — 
wrongs that destroyed liberty and created despotism; wrongs 
that have blighted innocence and extinguished hopes; wrongs 
that have aggrandized the few at the expense of the many, and 
brought conflict and disaster to the human race; wrongs sus- 
tained and support(^d by superstition, by tradition, by mis- 
guided affection; wrongs recent and old, in church and state; 
in the social system and family circle; wrongs of every kind 
and description have been in every age and among every 
people, the subject of their indignant protests; and in laboring 



1B0 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUnF;NT. 

for the suppression of these wrongs they have relinquished 
worldly honors, surrendered fortune and sacrificed life itself. 

The darkest shadows upon human history have been cast by 
the persecution they have suffered, the defeats which have at- 
tended their efiforts, and the cruel injustice they have received 
from those whom they have sought to protect and defend. But 
persecution and defeat have failed to entirely suppress them or 
destroy their work. Seemingly driven from his field of labor at 
times, whenever and wherever evil conditions have brought 
suffering and distress to earth's despairing multitudes, then and 
there the reformer has reappeared with the same devotion to 
the cause of humanity, the same self-abnegation, the same 
boundless confidence in his schemes of relief; and his reappear- 
ance has ever been signalized by the same outpouring of deris- 
ion and contempt, the same misconstruction and opposition. 
To the man whose interests and prejudices were involved in the 
existing order of things, he has always appeared as the enemy 
of his kind, the disturber of the public peace, the fomenter of 
discontent among the people. Yes, he has been smitten to 
death by the hands whose shackles he unbound, and innocent 
women and children, the beneficiaries of his unselfish labors, 
have been taught to sing praises over the shedding of his 
blood. Unfortunately, he has not always been richly endowed 
with worldly wisdom — his knowledge of practical affairs, of the 
methods by which a selfish world does its business, has been 
limited. He has often times been "as harmless as doves," 
but, alas ! how seldom " as wise as serpents." He is not al- 
waj's a man of insight. He sees the external wrong — the dark 
shadow upon the world's life. The injustice and suffering 
which evil conditions bring to the toiling multitude, the unde- 
served power and prestige which these same conditions bring 
to the favored few — poverty for the millions, vast, unearned 
wealth for the very few. All of this he sees and his very soul 
flames up in honest indignation at the awful and apparently 
hopeless inequality which has been the one universal product 
of all human efforts to organize and administer government. 
His schemes of relief have, for the most part, been directed 
against superficial evils — evils of administration or policy which 



THK LIFE WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 161 

reappear in spite of all palliatives. Now and then, indeed, 
noble men in whom the forces of evolution have in some mys- 
terious way been focalized have arisen, and by pure weight of 
character have wrought changes of a more or less radical char- 
acter in existing institutions, and thus have, so to speak, drawn 
the race to higher levels of political and social life. But even 
such exalted characters have never pierced to the core and uti- 
covered the hidden causes of social evils. They have changed 
governments and policies and preserved to society its capacity to 
exist, to maintain its organic life and to receive and hold, 
through its crude and broken forms, the divine ideals which 
throughout the ages have been slowly but surely evolving to 
the surface of human life. Men as a rule, even those of the 
exceptionally gifted and nobler classes, have not, in thought or 
action, been able to transcend their external environments. 
The reformations started by them have run in grooves worn by 
existing social and political systems. Heredity and habits of 
thought and life have determined the scope and character of 
their efforts, hence social abuses have, in spite of those efforts, 
been transmitted from age to age, and the lines in which men 
now think are very much those which shaped human thought 
hundreds of years ago. 

Men, from habit, become conservative. We learn to love 
what we are accustomed to, and misguided affection makes us 
cling with death-like tenacity to social and political institutions 
long after they have ceased to be useful or serviceable to the 
human race — yes, long after they have become the instruments 
of injustice and oppression. lyUther's reformation corrected 
many abuses in the Romish church, but the Protestantism which 
he left to the world carries in its bosom the tyranny of opinion 
which, while greatly mitigating the severity of former church 
discipline, is quite effective in deterring men from too liberal 
indulgence of independent thought in the construction of doc- 
trinal standards. The church does not compel a recantation 
on bended knees of obnoxious scientific opinions, but it puts a 
quietus on advanced thought by a resolution of its general as- 
sembly, lest the vulgar world, the laity, may beset to thinking 
outside of established theological lines. The methods of silenc- 



162 THE LIFE WORK OE THOMAS E. NUGENT. 

ing Briggs is no doubt to be preferred to that applied to the 
tongue of poor Galileo, but both methods answered the purpose 
and both illustrate the tendency of institutions to perpetuate 
themselves by means of the veneration in which they are held 
and the dread which they inspire. Institutions represent pub- 
lic opinion, and public opinion is as potent as tliumbscrews to 
repress independence and enslave thought. As long as the 
system remains we permit non-essential modifications, changes 
in methods, but revolt at radical innovations that would sweep 
away the system itself even for something better. Romanism 
reappears in Protestantism in a less severe form with apparently 
a larger tolerance and a more benignant spirit — but is still car- 
rying in its bosom all of the possibilities of old Romanism as it 
existed in Luther's day. 

There is this difference, as a writer suggests, modern civil- 
ization has too many material interests at stake to permit an 
extreme indulgence of the propensity to persecute. It puts its 
staying hand, therefore, upon the tendency to ecclesiastical 
domination, and thus unconsciously enables the liberal and 
humane sentiment to more fully assert itself in all the churches. 
But then this staying hand does not press against the system 
itself. This would be to shock and outrage inherited preju- 
dices and affections which civilization finds it convenient and 
useful to foster, and civilization may be always depended upon 
to take care of its own. What is said here of churches may 
be also said of political parties. The latter may not be as pure 
and clean as the former, but in both, though by different modes 
and with different ends and motives, the spirit of domination 
asserts itself and is made effective by means of an imperious 
public opinion. In both there is rulership that will not brook 
opposition. Of course it is admitted that in both alike the re- 
sort to discipline is justified, though in different degrees, by 
conscience and what men regard as their highest duty to their 
fellows. But I speak of the fact as one to be considered in 
testing the quality and possible effects of any reform move- 
ment. 

Take the great and wonderful religious movement begun by 
Wesley in the last century, or that started by Alexander Camp- 



THE tIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NIlGKNt. 163 

bell some fifty years or more ago. Each of these movements 
resulted in the establishment of distinctly organized ecclesias- 
tical bodies. No one can doubt the zeal, the philanthropy, or 
the good conscience of the membership of these religious organ- 
izations, but every dispassionate mind must see that so deeply 
involved in the affections of its members is each of these 
churches that any effort to change its simple customs or form- 
ulas would excite alarm and apprehension throughout the 
entire body. Some hardy reformer might, however, after 
years of toil and misconstruction, effect useful changes in these, 
but it would only be by leaving the essential features of the 
system untouched. Thus, in the course of time, even vital 
doctrines of the creed might vanish, while the system itself 
would remain to circumscribe and dominate human thought 
and effort for many generations. And this for the reason that 
affection, social custom, and the inexorable demands of con- 
ventional life would combine to prevent its displacement. 

A standing illustration of this, though on a much lower 
plane, is to be found in the democratic party organization of 
to-day. Thirty odd years ago this party in national convention 
declared in unequi vocable terms for free trade; and there are 
.still lofty minds which cling to it under the delusive hope that 
the old time ideal of "free trade throughout the world" will 
yet find expression in its creed and breathe into its future cam- 
paigns the holy inspiration of humanity. Vain expectation. 
Henry George and his coterie of single taxers have caught the 
inspiration of a great truth, but the steadfast devotion with 
which these fine humane thinkers, to whom the name of a 
custom house is odious, have supported Mr. Cleveland, who 
speaks almost sneeringly of what he is pleased to call "impos- 
sible free trade, ' ' illustrates how a great reform may be prac- 
tically nullified by the potent, influence of a political organiza- 
tion and the inveterate public opinion by which it is sustained. 
To even a casual thinker it mu.st be apparent that the road to 
free trade is not that which runs through protectionists' camps 
and upon which at this time democratic politicians swarm in 
the headlong march to the capital city. Free trade, forsooth, 
through a protective administration, backed by a struggling 



164 THE UFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

horde of democratic office seekers, each shrieking tariff reform, 
but evidently unwiUing that the system which nourishes 40,000 
or 50,000 loyal partisans should ever be wholly abolished! 
Free trade in the offices is what these spoilsmen seek. 

Just as unreasonable is the expectation that the southern 
hope of free silver will ever be realized through an administra- 
tion committed against the policy and ready to employ all the 
power of patronage and party favor to effectuate its opposition. 
John H. Reagan, that sturdy patriot, strikes out boldly at the 
head of his party, predicts direful thin^^s for those who war on 
silver, but his arm is all too weak to stay the fateful opposition. 
Coke fought valiantly for the white metal until the party 
elected its gold standard president, but since that event seems 
to have found it easy to digest and assimilate, apparently with- 
out nausea, the whole ' ' syndicate of American and English 
bankers and bondholders." He, too, is one of the Romans of 
Democracy — a vigorous thinker and an honest man. But 
Coke, the lion who now evinces the submissive docility of the 
the lamb, and Reagan, who bravely continues to cast darts from 
his place on the commission, both alike indulge the fatuous 
belief that Democracy, with its heterogeneous elements repre- 
senting all conflicting beliefs, will some day be sufficiently 
reformed to pass tariff and financial laws in harmony with 
southern demands — how, they don't know. Meanwhile the 
gold bugs plot and plan and the silver sentiment weakens. Oh, 
for some Cicero to startle the people out of their lethargy and 
unmask to their view the worse than Catilinian conspiracy by 
which plutocracy is seeking their financial and political 
enslavement. 

Democracy of to-day ! What is it, but the shell from which 
the once j uicy kernel has been extracted ? The fire of patriotism 
that once burned in its bosom has been extinguished and the 
old political ideas wrought out' through the brain of Thomas 
Jefferson and which the statesmen of Democracy, in the better 
ante-bellum days, guarded with unsurpassed devotion, no longer 
inspire its life or glorify its leadenship. Truckling, time serv- 
ing, consistent in nothing but the desire for spoils, seeking 
success at any cost of principle, with its pretense of free trade 



TIIK LIFD WORK OP THOMAS h. NITCxKNT. 165 

and free silver in the sontli and west, and its identification with 
protection, plutocracy and the gold standard in the east — how 
can this party of broken promises, lost opportunities and 
unhappy defeats, be trusted to champion a great cause or bear the 
hopes of toihng and strugghng humanity in the mighty pohtical 
crisis through which the country is now passing ? And yet, 
vast multitudes of good men gather around this pohtical body 
from which all real life has fled, and worship it because of the 
name it bears. It is because of this clinging to efiete and life- 
less forms — this tyrsLuny which habit and education and 
inherited prejudice exert over human thought — that men far in 
advance of the times refuse to abandon existing parties and 
institutions, vainly imagining that they may be reformed and 
made the means of correcting abuses which they themselves 
have fostered and built up to colossal proportions. 

These men, with few exceptions, belong to the class of 
reformers who in all preceding ages have failed because of an 
inherited incapacity to think outside of or against the existing 
order. Broken gleams of truth reflected upon the dark surface 
of social life have thrown a grateful radiance over their minds 
and they have felt themselves warmed and thrilled with strange 
sympathy for the suffering and stricken multitude, but they 
have been overborne and trodden under foot by the sordid and 
selfish horde who bear the standards of the parties, dictate their 
policies and control the offices which they dispense as the spoils 
of victor}^ A political party thus marshalled and led is as 
relentless as an invading army, and the men who control its 
policy and run its campaigns would as readily as Caesar, Alex- 
ander or Bonaparte, convert the world into a human slaughter 
pen, if that were necessary to the gratification of their lust for 
dominion. 

Reform from such source ! Never, unless right is to be con- 
founded with wrong and truth with fiction. But is there no 
hope of reform — no hope for the downtrodden and oppressed ? ' 
Yes, there is hope ; not " hope deferred that maketh the heart 
sick," but hope brightening and glowing with ever-increasing 
effulgence. Great, humane, cultured men have toiled through 
weary years of investigation, vainly endeavoring to solve the 



166 THK LIFK WORK OF THOMAS T,. NUGENT. 

problem of hiinian life, Init few of them have ever penetrated 
beyond the mere physical basis of existence. Truth, lying 
within and above the existing order of things, only comes forth 
when conditions favor to stand in glorious transfiguration before 
men, and then only to men who win her as a bride. When 
the opportunity serves she reveals herself to those who rever- 
ently wait upon her coming — it may not be in full orbed splen- 
dor, but it will always be in a vision of glory, although shad- 
owed by human infirmities and circumscribed by human limita- 
tions. But truth is not found b^^ mere searching ; thinking 
alone does not disclose her. She is seen, loved, embraced as a 
bride, embodied in the spirit and the life. In all ages the wise 
and learned have sought her with longings unutterable, 
unquenchable ; but it was given only to certain wise men to see 
her perfect star in the east; and that star led them to the babe 
in the manger, the "golden child" of promise. Since then 
men have been learning the law of human service. ' ' He sleeps 
in God who wakes and toils with men," says the rarest of 
modern reformers. Here is the lesson — the rule — and he who 
works out the rule in practical life will know truth by an inte- 
rior recognition far more convincing than any process of human 
reasoning. The Christ of history was not an ecclesiastic, 
nor a politician, nor a cultured theorist. He was a "man of 
the people." L,ittle cared he for the petty differences among 
men — for their creeds and dogmas and beliefs. He came and 
taught and labored, not to inaugurate a system, but to reach 
and cure the world's ills which he clearly saw. He was no scio- 
list — his words carrying a depth of meaning, a potency, a pen- 
etrating energy which words only bear when the spirit that fills 
them comes straight from the fountain of truth. And how 
simple and plain, how chaste and pure and sweet. They steal 
over the soul like a gentle breath from paradise, and yet, with- 
in that breath one instinctively feels a latent force resides, 
which, under conditions, may generate a storm of irresistible 
power. 

Yes, Christ saw the cause of human ills, and to reach and 
cure those ills he came, illustrating in his person and life the 
lowly condition of the multitude — those who chiefly bear the 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 167 

world's burdens, who feel the pressure of its hard conditions, 
and whose life longings are for relief that never comes until 
eternity brings light and hope to disperse the darkness and 
despair of time. He was a carpenter, clad no doubt in coarse 
raiment and pursuing His vocation with diligence and skill. He 
was poor, very poor. Listen to the plaint that has come 
down the ages, " The foxes have holes and the birds of the 
air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His 
head." Ye tenants that labor and stint that landlords may 
flourish and grow and fatten upon your toil, behold your 
sympathizing brother — the landless Savior. At last, says the 
witty paragraplier, we know the unthinkable — a ' ' land own- 
ing savior," and in the statement carries to the common under- 
standing the perception of a great truth. How could Christ, • 
by the private ownership of land, sanction a monopoly of 
that which the all-Father created for the free use of his chil- 
dren ? No, Christ was not a land monopolist. Neither was 
he a money monopolist. The money changers in the temple 
seemed most to excite his righteous indignation. " My father's 
house is a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of 
thieves." Imagine Christ as a banker, a shaver of notes, a 
taker of usury! How horrible the thought! The very con- 
ception of a savior is profaned by such association of ideas. But 
Christ did work — glorified industry — ennobled useful toil. How 
comforting to the tired worker are the words, "My father 
worketh hitherto and I work." Yes, Christ's mission is 
especially to the landless, moneyless toilers. Hence the com- 
mon people heard him gladly, congregated around him to 
listen, attracted by his strange but gracious words. We may 
well believe that a genial, humane, benignant spirit diffused 
itself through all his words and ways. He was not morose 
nor exclusive, nor was his character tainted with the severity 
of the sectarist. On the contrary he was broad and genial 
and social and his sympathies reached to every class and con- 
dition of humanity. He did not go around the ruling classes. 
Nicodemus, the ruler, found him ready to accord him an inter- 
view by night. With dignity and grace he sat at the table of 
the publican, though people called him a glutton and a wine 



168 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

bibber, and little children found it sweet to be snugged away 
in His arms and to look with innocent trustfulness into His smil- 
ing face. In all of His words there is not a s^-llable of cant, 
nothing provincial or common. Still, on an occasion He did not 
hesitate to denounce wrong, even though hedged about and 
protected by social power and influence. And throughout His 
whole career He held aloft the highest moral and ethical stand- 
ards of life and conduct. His eye was fixed on the absolute 
right, not so much on the legal or technical. He saw the 
fatal tendency of men to think in customary and institu- 
tional lines and He apparently sought to lift His fellows into 
the upper realms, where truth, absolute truth, may be viewed 
in freedom. How fearlessly He rebuked the priestlj^ horde 
because they condemned Him for setting at naught the sab- 
bath of tradition. Indeed, He only, of all historic personages, 
seemed by inherited or natural endowments capable of transcend- 
ing the limitations of His age in giving truth to the world. He 
thought outside of accepted lines. See how divine forces con- 
centrated upon Him, were embodied in Him — and these by His 
life and death, in some mysterious way. He worked out into 
the heart centers of the race. 

I am not a theologian, nor even a member of any church, 
yet in this wonderful man and his work I see the ideal reformer, 
the one single, complete and symmetrical character of human 
history, giving his life to the work of arresting the evil ten- 
dencies inherent in the world's social and political institutions, 
upbearing the rule of absolute right in the face of an age given 
over to superstitious veneration for dead forms and whose high- 
est ideals never rose above the level of the merely technical or 
legal. There is a profound saying in one of the gospels: " The 
Holy Ghost was not given because Jesus was not yet glorified. ' ' 
I may not catch the full sense or this passage, but I know that 
after Christ's death there was a strange quickening among the 
people, if we may believe what is recorded in the Acts. Peter's 
sermon on the day of Pentecost does not strike one as anything 
more than a simple recital of historical facts and plain truths, 
yet 3,000 people were converted by his sermon, and of these it 
is said that they "were together and had all things in com- 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 169 

mon." Thus whatever maybe said of Christ, whether man 
only, or God-man, His presence in the world strangely and 
wonderfully moved the common people and the influence 
which He left in the natural sphere of life aroused an intense 
sentiment of fraternity in an age and among a people immersed 
in dead formalities and blindly devoted to ease and priestly 
rule. 

Here was the beginning of Christian socialism. A new force 
was liberated into the world — vital, fundamental truths thrown 
upon the currents of public thought, and thus sent drifting 
down the ages. Was Christ the consummate product of divine 
evolution, and was the Holy Ghost which He brought with 
Him but the concentration of forces which make for righteous- 
ness, which by the mysterious processes of Providence were 
gathered and focalized into His personality only to be thence 
led forth into the human world to transform and uplift and 
glorify the social man ? One thing we know — in spite of ter- 
rible reactions, wars and bloodshed and the overflowing of 
ignorance and crime and brutality since Christ stood forth in 
that olden time as the redeemer and glorifier of labor, as the 
Divine King of industry, holding forth the torch of absolute 
truth among the masses, the spirit of brotherhood has been 
slowly making its way among men, dropping into social, ecclesi- 
astical and political forms as they afforded it the opportunity 
for expansion and growth. 

It grew in France in the last century, and but for the pres- 
sure and resistance of institutions whose strong counter-active 
influences converted it into moral dynamite, the carnival of 
blood would not have sent forth its furies to devastate the 
social system of that fair land, and the republic of "liberty, 
equality, and fraternity" might have emerged in beauty and 
glory from the ciiaos and darkness and tyranny of an effete 
regime. Passing over the new world it quickened the brain 
and fired the heart of Thomas Jefferson, who, in profound dis- 
trust of government, taught an extreme individualism, thus 
reacting from governmental paternalism to the opposite 
extreme. Plence the accepted American theory relegated gov- 
ernment to the functions of a mere agency. "The less gov- 



170 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

erned, the better," became an adage that appealed at once to 
the statesman, the demagogue, and the private citizen. Gov- 
ernment, in the current belief of the times, was charged witli 
only the duty to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of his 
natural rights — his right to life, liberty, and property. Prac- 
tically, government was built up on the distinction between 
meum and tuura. Thrift, skill, and industry were unchained 
and turned loose to riot in new fields of unexampled wealth — 
to gather .such harvests as they might under the favoring con- 
ditions of soil and climate and free government. As popula- 
tion and wealth increased, competition asserted itself. Individ- 
uals became more and more inten.se and pronounced and the 
social, fraternal sentiment weakened. Gradually- government 
became more and more complex and powerful as vast interests 
arose demanding something more than the simple functions of 
an agency for their protection; and as inventions and corpora- 
tions grew and multiplied the associative principle drew men 
together upon the ground of avarice or greed. The individual 
began to be merged into the corporation and society to separate 
itself into the classes as special interests and privileges sprang 
into existence. Meanwhile government was reaching out and 
touching every part of the social fabric. Once it was hidden 
from popular gaze in Washington — a simple, frugal, unimport- 
ant something only fully understood and known by the inquisi- 
tive student, the sage, or the politician. Now its shadow cov- 
ered the continent ; its widely diffused influence was felt every- 
where. It became the one potent, irresistible energy whose 
favor all men sought and for whose protection all interests 
clamored. The rapidly developing industries demanded the 
railroad, the telegraph, and the telephone, and all of these 
came. Government contributed its land, its tariff and its 
patent laws, its pensions and bounties to accelerate the evil 
tendencies of the times, to build up great interests and foster 
special privileges. The monopolization of natural and other 
resources soon followed, with its inevitable sequences of pov- 
erty in the midst of great wealth, social irritation and a chronic 
conflict between capital and labor. 

Laud is the free gift of God to man. All men have an equal 



THE LTFK WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUOKNT. 171 

right to its use but none to its private appropriation for specula- 
tiv^e purposes. Its elements enter as constituents into the forma- 
tion of our bodies, it forms the solid base of our existence from 
the cradle to the grave. We walk upon it, breathe its air, 
drink its waters, draw our nourishment from the substances 
stored up in it, and when death overtakes us, our bodies repose 
within its bosom. Deprive us of access to it and we die; open 
its resources to the free application of our labor and skill and 
we live and thrive and flourish. Jefferson saw this when he 
taught that land only belongs in usufruct to the living genera- 
tion, and that no generation has the right to transmit to pos- 
terity burdens upon the land in the shape of bonded indebted- 
ness. We have already burdened this heritage and store house 
of the race by the creation of bonded indebtedness which future 
generations may find it difficult, if not impossible to pay, and 
we have barred off access to it by a vicious policy, under which 
corporations and individuals have monopolized it for speculative 
purposes. Cheap lands being no longer accessible, is there any 
wonder that tramps abound ? that the tenant classes are grow- 
ing in number and that pov^erty is more and more finding its 
way into the households of our people ? Is there any wonder 
that the toiling thousands in our towns and citieft, no longer 
able to resort to cheap lands to become their own employers, 
and thus gather the fruits of their labors, find themselves forced 
to the wall by a constantly descending scale of wages ? Yet 
courts are running and tenant and landlord alike must bear the 
ever increasing tax burden made necessary in adjusting land 
titles and maintaining costly edifices for their preservation ! 

But society not only requires land, but the means of trans- 
portation as well. In our highly organized industrial and 
social systems, railroads and telegraphs are prime essentials. 
They are necessary parts of the vast and wonderful mechanism 
of production by which wealth is created and distributed. We 
are apt to take a too narrow view of this question of production. 
We saj', in a general way, that land and labor are the primary 
factors in the production of wealth. This is true in the sense 
that wealth production begins with the application of labor to 
land — meaning by land not only soil but all else included in the 



172 THK LIF15 \VORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

physical universe around us. Now, wcaUh is nalinal i)rotlucls 
secured, combined, separated, removed or otherwise modified 
so as to fit them for the gratification of human desires and for 
the varied processes or modes of producing wealth implied in 
this definition, another factor besides land and labor must lend 
its useful service, viz., capital, which is but surplus wealth 
employed in the production of more wealth. Without capital, 
schools and universities would vanish, churches cease to exist 
and organized charities pass away. Taste, culture and refine- 
ment would wither and die as if stricken with a curse; art and 
science would linger only as dead memories and all the multi- 
plied social agencies which minister to human happiness, com- 
fort and use would disappear forever. Capital 1 It is the hand 
maid of labor and the dispenser of blessings to all classes and 
conditions of humanity. 

Unfortunately an unnatural conflict between it and labor has 
been brought on by the selfishness, the greed and the false 
teachings of the age, which a better age about to dawn upon 
the world must settle and compose. The farmer gathers crude 
seed cotton as the product of his year's toil. This natural sub- 
stance his labor has dravx^n from the soil, this he has secured; 
but how useless would be his acquisition if it should remain in 
the state in wdiich he puts it in his cotton pen ! We are too 
apt to regard the farmer as the only producer. He only starts 
the work of production, in one line. The ginner puts his cot- 
ton in the form of a bale and thus adds value to it. The gin- 
ner is a producer, too. The railroad company transports that 
bale to the factory and thus adds value to it. It is worth more 
in the form of a bale than in the farmer's cotton pen; more in 
the manufacturer's warehouse than in the ginner" s yard. The 
railroad company is a producer, as is also that manufacturer 
who converts that bale of cotton into woven cloth, for he has 
added immense value to it. The new forms of wealth — bolts 
of cotton cloth — are now taken up by our wonderful railroad 
system and transported to every section of our common country, 
where they find their way into the retail stores. The retail 
merchants cut them up into parcels for the convenience of 
customers, but not until the good housewife with scissors and 



TII]£ LIl'K WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 17.") 

needle works it up into garments is that bale of cotton finally 
made fit for the gratification of human desire. That bale of 
cotton wrought up and separated into bolts of cloth is worth 
more upon the shelves of the retail merchant than it was when 
the manufacttirer first converted it into cloth; but how much 
more valuable is it when, in the form of raiment, it ministers to 
the comfort and happiness of human beings. Now the retail 
merchant is a producer of wealth, for he by his labor and skill 
and capital makes the final use possible; and so also is the hon- 
est woman who cuts and sews — it may be in the still, dark hours 
— in order that the daughter, son and husband may be clad. 

Now in all these varied processes, capital has been present 
as a beneficent, useful factor, aiding labor in the creation of 
wealth for human service. The farmer's tools and implements 
are capital, no less than the complicated machinery, the rolling 
stock and track of the railway corporation; but it is easy to 
see that in the series of producing forces to which I have 
alluded none is more vitally necessary than the railroad system. 
It makes it possible for cotton grown in southern fields to be 
woven in the distant mill and afterward to be distributed to the 
consumer in forms convenient for use. It runs its branches 
through all the industrial S3\stem — binding and linking all the 
industries together in one harmonious whole. Thus it enters 
into the daily transactions and social history of every com- 
munity in the land. But the social organism requires the 
interchange of thought and intelligence no less than the 
exchange of nature's products, and the age which demands rail- 
roads cannot do without telegraphs and telephones. With the 
practical annihilation of time and space, by which widely sep- 
arated communities may be brought together and their daily 
experiences made to interblcnd and run together, the sense of 
unity, of oneness, of natural interdependence grows and inten- 
sifies until the individual merges into the common or com- 
munity life. 

If the animating principle of that connnunity life be greed, 
who can measure its power for evil, its destructive and devasta- 
ting influence! If a sense of brotherhood dwells within and is 
diffused throughout it, is not this redeemed society ? And what 



174 THK LIKli WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

is redeemed society but redeemed and glorified industry ? If, 
therefore, our social and industrial systems are organized upon 
railroad and telegraph systems, is it not clear that these public 
utilities which affect the interests of all alike, should not be the 
subject of private ownership or appropriation .'' An industry of 
a public character, exercising the functions of gov^ernment, 
including a delegated right of eminent domain, and itself neces- 
sarily a monopoly, ought not to be made the instrument of 
human greed. The power to burden production for private gain 
by exactions levied in the form of railroad and telegraph tariffs 
should not be lodged in the hands of individuals. To place 
the power of regulation in the hands of a commi-ssion will not 
solve the difficulty nor remove the danger. The public must 
own and control public utilities. 

But no reform can be complete which does not involve a 
change in our financial system — such a radical and sweeping 
change as will render money monopolj'- impossible. The 
demand of the times is money that will circulate. Under the 
present system the circulating medium is simply put out to find 
its w^ay into the vaults of the banks, where it is no longer the 
" tool of exchange," but the instrument of private greed, the 
means by which usury may be exacted from labor, skill and 
thrift. Money! What is it but the means by which the 
exchange of products is effected ? Its function is general and 
universal, it was designed to serve all the people alike, to facili- 
tate commerce and trade, to develop natural resources of 
wealth, to promote industry, to bring light and comfort and 
peace to every home. It was made to circulate, not to be 
hoarded: it was intended to be the means, not the subject of 
trade. Yet the present financial system is a cunningly designed 
scheme b}' which a combination of banks is enabled to levy a 
tax periodically upon the entire circulation of the country. Tax 
the money and you weaken the forces of production. With- 
draw money from circulation and the same result follows. Our 
banking system both taxes money and withdraws it from circu- 
lation. More than this, as long as this system exists the liabil- 
ity to constantly recurring panics and stringencies will continue. 
This money making device by which confidence, often ill- 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 175 

founded, is converted into capital, and a few men are able to 
collect interest on the money of whole communities, has no 
support in ethics or sound finance. Indeed, the banking sys- 
tem has literally nothing in it that tends to exalt the standard 
of right. There are any nvimber of honorable citizens engaged 
in the business, but that does not justify the system itself. 

It will be found before many years that to make the monopo- 
lization of money impossible the government must do the 
banking. Here, then, we stand upon this high ground of 
radical opposition to land monopoly, transportation monopoly 
and money monopoly — monopolies that have gradually grown 
up in and around our institutions and are gradually prostitut- 
ing them to the purposes of mere private gain — enriching 
unduly the very few, impoverishing the many. We raise aloft 
the standard of right and insist that it shall be applied in our 
political, no less than in our social and moral life. Indeed, we 
are endeavoring to erect a higher standard than has ever been 
applied to our social and religious life, which is largely artifi- 
cial and conventional. The public conscience is satisfied so 
long as the conduct is kept within the bounds of law or cus- 
tom. "We may disregard the law of absolute right so long as 
we conform to the legal or technical rule that society has laid 
down for itself. Thus, as an advanced thinker remarks, the 
age tolerates and even approves practices which a coming age 
will denounce as crimes. The warped and perverted conscience 
that cannot see the essential wrong involved in allowable prac- 
tices is largely an inheritance, but more largely the outgrowth 
of existing laws and institutions with the growth of monopolies, 
the struggle of life has become sharper and the lot of those not 
among the favored classes has grown darker and more burden- 
some. As wealth and population have increased with the 
interruption or partial suspension of the laws of equitable dis- 
tribution, the number of those able to acquire wealth and com- 
fort, has been constantly diminishing until now, in a country 
whose natural resources still transcend the utmost stretch of 
the imagination, and whose capacity to support population is 
practically without limit, comparatively few can under the 
present order hope to reach a condition in which continuous 



176 THE LIKE WORK OF THOMAS L. NItGENT. 

labor will not be required to support life. " The scramble to 
get oil top," as Henry George calls it, has come with the con- 
sequent intensification of greed, deterioration of the moral 
sense, the weakening of the human sentiment and the lowering 
of the standards of character. 

But, as in the daj'S when Christ preached reformation in 
Judea, the common people are beginning to hear the truth with 
gladness. The spirit of humanity which Christ left in the 
world has not departed, although periodically subjected to par- 
tial suppressions. It is here in this wonderful country of ours 
and among our wonderful people. But it is kindling the fires 
of reform, not among the socially or politically wise and mighty, 
but among the untutored masses. In the popular heart "deep 
is calling unto deep," and the social brotherhood is slowly 
evolving and growing among the people as breast after breast 
thrills responsively to the sound of that "calling." For the 
present, so long as selfishness demands its law of competition, 
we can only hope to make a successful fight against monopoly 
— to give back to the people their ownership of public utilities, 
to enact the " initiative and referendum " by which the coun- 
try's legislation shall be placed under the direct control of the 
voters, to recognize the supremacy of the individual in matters 
of private concern, to restore to the commercial and social world 
the lost ideas of equity and justice, thus to untrammel legiti- 
mate industries and skill and leave them to pursue in freedom 
the beneficent work of producing wealth; and this reform move- 
ment necessarily must, upon humane and economic grounds, 
include " free trade throughout the world " within its scheme 
of remedies. 

What may be beyond that which is here outlined, only He can 
know who holds the destinies of the world in the hollow of His 
hand. Human selfishness must, of necessity, place limitations 
upon every social or political movement. If it shall ever be 
transcended, the glorified industries will arise in orderly unity 
and harmony like the " City of God," and the dream of Bell- 
amy will be a realized fact in concrete social life. As yet, such 
a state can only, as the millenium, exist in hope. Already 
Jeffersonian simplicity is transcended — composite age is 



THE IJFR WOKK OK THOMAS L. NUGENT. 177 

dawning upon the world with its (quickening and uplifting 
power. 

The transformations already effected and which yet impend 
are largely due to the fundamental, political truths taught by 
Jefferson. A crude generation appropriated them only to the 
demands of an extreme, selfish individualism, but the opening 
epoch will appropriate them to the demands of social and polit- 
ical justice. 



TIIK LIFK WOKK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 170 



JUDGE NUGENT'S OPENING SPEECH 
FOR GOVERNOR 



DELIVERED AT GRANDVIEW. AUGUST 24. 1894, 



The times are oiniiious and threatening. Capital— organ- 
ized, arrogant, intrenched in special privileges and inspired by 
confidence born of recent victories — stands confronted by labor, 
smarting under defeat, alert, resentful, holding its lines till the 
fateful hours shall come. Thus the forces, which, harmonized 
and united, would constitute an invincible army of peace, bear- 
ing the banners of triumphant industries and moving in the 
orderly processions of civilized social life, are hopelessly di- 
vided, and by division courting catastrophes and ruin. Capital 
will not yield, labor cannot surrender unless under the stress 
of uncontrollable necessity, which to it always conies in times 
of collision and strife. Men ask, why is this? The commerce 
of a great nation for the time being is paralyzed; the wheels of 
transportation no longer revolve; the banker, the lawyer, the 
merchant finds his mail delayed and impeded; inconvenience 
and discomfort visit the homes of thousands. Whence all of 
this disturbance, this sudden, rude suspension of facilities so 
necessary to social enjoyment, to business and industrial pros- 
perity? The strike— comes the universal response — the strike 
has caused it all! Down with the strike! Make haste, oh! 
government of law and order, hurry forward the troops, those 
time-honored servants of conservative power, and bid them 
with Catling gnu and rifle, with bayonet and revolver, put an 
end to this uprising of discontented and despairing labor! 
What if blood be shed! Must society be deprived of its morn- 



180 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

ing paper or its privilege of rapid iiiter-conimuiiication for even 
a few days? No, rather let cannon and rifle, and bayonet and 
pistol do their dreadfnl work and mobs of lawless men and 
women be shot to fragments, than that the railroads should 
cease to run ! It is true the strikers are simply workingmen 
who refuse to work for reasons of their own, and it is also true 
that, having the inalienable right to exercise their own judg- 
ment in such matters, the government cannot legally force 
them to work; but what does this signify? The frenzied mul- 
titudes rush wildly hither and thither as if impelled by an irre- 
sistible, blind impulse. Chicago's slums have emptied them- 
selves upon the community, the vicious classes are out, anarchy 
threatens the city, business interests are disturbed! Do you 
not see that the mails are not carried, that inter-state commerce 
does not move, and that the process of courts, whose decrees 
have sought to enjoin the exercise of the right to cease from 
work, is obstructed? What if these are but the incidental 
effects of the widespread effort of the workingmen to extort 
justice from reluctant and remorseless employers? Is not the 
public convenience greater than private right — the dignity of 
courts more to be esteemed than the personal liberty of the 
citizen or the sovereignty of the State? And, so, the govern- 
ment mobilizes its troops, a few miguided honest citizens, mad- 
dened by long submission to injustice and wrong, are shot 
down, the mob vanishes as the bayonets advance, exultant 
capital scores another victory, and labor, defeated, disheart- 
ened, sullen, retreats to its old haunts, takes up again its old 
burdens and trudges along its old, rugged paths. There is no 
peace in such a situation. Capital has learned that it may rely 
upon the military arm of the government; labor begins to see 
that its only reliance is upon itself. There is an enforced 
truce — a cessation of hostilities for the present — with the cer- 
tainty of renewal in the future if conditions continue as they 
are. Meanwhile the statesmanship of the period exhausts it- 
self in suggesting palliatives or expedients — surface measures 
to quiet the present trouble. 

It is only a question with the politician of how to bridge over 
the ever recurring difficulties between employer and employe by 



THE L1I<M{ WORK OF THOMA.S I.. NUGHNT. 181 

some makeshift of legislation. The larger question of how to 
prevent such difficulties, or render them impossible, has not 
arisen upon his field of vision. He sees the strike, he notes 
its attendant evils ; and then then he flies to some measure 
of regulation or repression, some scheme of arbitration which 
no one is bound to obey, and with which, therefore, corporate 
wealth may soothe while it throttles and enslaves labor. 
Strikes are but a symptom of the deeper disease, which 
rankles at the heart of the body politic. Labor has long since 
learned that it produces the fund from which is derived its own 
compensation— nay, more, that it not only thus pays its own 
wages, but gives to capital a bonus for the privilege of doing 
so. Why should we wonder then, that it refuses to be satisfied 
with the dole which capital measures off to it, and resents the 
condition which forces it into the attitude of a mendicant ? Why 
should we wonder, when labor is to-day in an agony to be free, 
to taste the sweets of independence, to find an open door to its 
lost opportunities ? Why should w^e wonder, when labor, 
pressed to the wall, hunted like a wild beast, turns upon its 
oppressor in pure desperation and fights for its life— fights to 
maintain its standing place in the world's economic field ? The 
fact that it realizes its dependence upon capital while conscious 
of its right to be free carries always the promises of conflict and 
peril. Ignorance and slavery ever go hand in hand. The 
simple African made the air vocal with merry song while bend- 
ing beneath the burdens of slavery. 'Twere worldly wise to 
keep him in the darkness of ignorance; yet even he knew by an 
irrepressible instinct that Lincoln's soldiers brought to him the 
breaking of chains— freedom from physical restraints. What 
cared he for constitutional limitations, or the sanctity of private 
property? The light of freedom came to him through the 
gloom of war and he followed it recklessly like a wayward 
child. It illuminated the pathway that led as he thought to 
that larger social state, in which it is the privilege of men to 
own their own bodies, to freely exercise their own faculties and 
gather the fruits of their own labor. He will soon learn, if he 
has not already learned, that slavery which makes property of 
the laborer while guaranteeing the support of life is inexpress- 



182 Tii)': I.I1-1-; work oi' tiio^ias l. nugknt. 

ibly inercil'iil in c(jiiiparis()ii willi lluit coiulilion which yields 
support only by the enslavement of labor. When he comes to 
know that he also produces the fund out of which capital pays 
for his toil, a sense of suppressed manhood will drive him into 
the ranks of labor reformers, whose superior intelligence has 
long since enabled them to see the central fact of the economic 
situation, and will ere long enable them to apply the proper 
remedy. With the spread of information the circle will con- 
tinue to enlarge until its periphery shall touch every laborer of 
every class or color — the farmer, the artisan, the wage worker, 
the clerk, the lawyer, the doctor — in fine all who work with 
brain or brawn in dependence upon those who hoLd the world's 
purse strings; for all alike are victims of the same bad condi- 
tions. The unrest which pervades the ranks of labor need 
not be misinterpreted — ought in fact to be welcomed as an 
omen of good, since it is the divinely given prophecy of 
coming good. 

The land monopoly has locked up the bounties of nature and 
capital, holding the key, says to labor, I feed and clothe and 
shelter you, work on my terms or exercise your legal right to 
go. To go, whither ? The answer as conditions are rapidly 
maturing must soon be to want, to suffering, to death. Hence 
labor accepts the terms, however hard, though with the tacit 
reservation, that he wdio is the victim of such wrongful condi- 
tions is justified by every principle of right in seeking the earli- 
est possible opportunity to escape from them. A quickened 
.sense of manhood — manhood which he knows to be laboring 
luider unjust suppression — manhood forced into an attitude of 
unnatural dependence — must continue to drive the workingman 
into revolt against the social andindu.strialmal-adjustments, by 
means of which those " who neither toil nor spin " are enabled 
to absorb the produce of his labor. Here is found the guaranty 
of ever-recurring labor troubles, the boycotts, the lockouts and 
the strikes with all of their unhappy and dangerous conse- 
quences. 

These industrial paroxysms are, however, object lessons, and 
they have in large measure disclosed to the masses what has 
been for some time apparent to the philosophical student of re- 



THE LIKE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



183 



cent history, viz. ; that the spirit of plutocratic capitalism is the 
dominating force in our organized social and industrial life. 
Yes, it gathers the fruits of industry and divides them at its 
will. It controls and manipulates with almost unbridled power 
and license, every function of trade and finance. Its specula- 
tive lust finds opportunities of gain in the tolls levied upon the 
right to occupy the earth. It denies to the people the heritage 
which the Creator gave them ' ' without money and without 
price. ' ' It gathers into its storehouse the bounties which na- 
ture designed for the common use of all. The treasures of soil 
and forest, of water, and air, and sunshine, are poured at its 
feet. The subtle forces that run their mysterious circuits in 
invisible realms are chained to its chariot wheels. It robs 
genius of its glory, makes of intellect a drudge and a slave, and 
utilizes the achievements of science to raid the stock markets 
and enlarge the margin of profits. Thus it wipes out as with 
a sponge the distinction between right and wrong, makes mer- 
chandise of the noblest ideals, sets gain before the world as the 
highest end of life, and converts men into predatory human 
animals. As another has said, it substitutes the "rule of gold 
for the golden rule;" and after devoting six days of the week 
to the prosecution of schemes for the exploitation of labor, on 
the seventh it invades the sanctuaries of religion, where its vo- 
taries may often be found close to the holy altar, joining with 
seeming reverence in services rendered to the incarnate spirit of 
truth and love. Fortunately, for our christian civilization, 
there are heroic men and women from whose minds the foul 
spirit of greed has not been able to drive the sweet ideals 
planted in the world's thought by the Son of the Galilean car- 
penter. But for these, spiritual hope would perish from the 
Earth. Capital could never have attained such ascendancy, 
but for the legislation which has given it unjust advantages and 
enabled it to monopolize both natural resources and public 
functions and utilities. Every person is entitled by the law of 
natural justice to possess and enjoy the fruits of his own skill 
and industry. Give to all equal opportunities, and under the 
operation of this law each would get his just share of the world's 
wealth; but give to any man the right to take not only the pro- 



184 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

duce of his own labor but a portion of that which is derived 
from the labor of his neighbor, and you unjustly increase his 
opportunities of gain. Give to a few individuals organized into 
a corporation the right to dispense for a price services of a nec- 
essary and public character — services essential to the existence 
and well-being of organized society— and you arm them with 
the power to levy tribute upon the whole community, and ac- 
quire wealth almost without limit. You in other words pro- 
vide for those consummate products of present economic condi- 
tions, the millionaire and the tramp. 

By the telegraph, telephone and railway monopolies, the 
monopolies of money and land, it is easy to see that we have 
placed in the hands of individuals and corporations the power 
to levy toll upon all the productive industry of the country— 
to virtually place all the labor of the country under tribute to 
a mere fraction of the population. And when we consider the 
vast and all pervading power and influence acquired by means 
of industries thus brought under the dominion of the few, 
every intelligent mind must see at a glance, that we could not 
in any other way have provided conditions so favarable to the 
undue concentration of wealth. And let it be remembered, 
that it is not the excessive production of wealth, but its un- 
equal distribution, which constitutes the menacing evil of the 
times. Under normal conditions, the greater the production 
of wealth, the more widely diffused would be its benefits. As 
population increases and society becomes more highly organ- 
ized, so ought the means and facilities of civilized life to be 
more and more within the reach of the great body of the 
people, and the comforts and conveniences of life to more and 
more abound. The point ought to be thus reached at which 
poverty would disappear. vSuch a condition could only be 
bought about, however, in a community all of whose 
members were afforded fair opportunity for the exertion of 
their faculties; for thus only could each be enabled to 
produce a proportion of the common stock of wealth and 
participate in the general enrichment derived from the 
co-operating efforts of all. In such a community there 
could be no material waste, no check in production, no 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 185 

limitation to the aggregate wealth by means of monopoly 
or the possession of unjust advantages. To produce 
results of this kind, nothing is needed but to destroy monopoly 
in those things which productive industry must have for prac- 
tical use. Protect these from the speculative greed of men, 
disembarrass trade of arbitrary legal interference, give free play 
to competition within the proper sphere of individual effort and 
investment, and steadily oppose those extreme socialistic schemes 
which seek by the outside pressure of mere enactments or sys- 
tems, to accomplish what can only come from the free activi- 
ties of men — do these things, and you will have achieved the 
real, genuine and lasting reforms which labor and capital 
equally need, and which in fact are the only practical reforms 
lying within the range of party action. 

The social condition is now almost desperate, and it is not 
confined to our own country. Both its evils and its causes are 
world-wide. Senator Stewart, exceptionally well informed on 
such subjects, says that " the wages of 60,000,000 people 
now living upon the globe average from one cent to six cents a 
day," and we know that in this country statistics show that 91 
per cent, of the population own only 29 per cent, of the aggre- 
gate wealth. Millionaires are so common and wealth accumu- 
lations so rapid, that it seems only a question of a few years when 
Billionaires will make their appearance. Inevitably, as the 
concentration of wealth goes on, pauperism must continue to 
grow and spread among the people. Already in Paris, France, 
one out of every eighteen, and in London, England, one out of 
every forty of the population are paupers ; and yet in both 
cities the wealth of the few is fabulous. That the monopoliza- 
tion of land and transportation facilities is chiefly instrumental in 
producing the concentrations of wealth which all recognize and 
deplore is conspicuously shown in the case of the Astors, whose 
real estate values mount into the hundreds of millions of dol- 
lars, and that of the Vandcrbilts, who have absorbed possibly 
even more of the national wealth. The.se are merely .striking 
illustrations of what every man with open eyes may read in 
facts lying within the common reach of all. Nor need we think 
that this vast concentration of wealth in the hands of the few 



186 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

is in this country without its unhappy effects on the balance of 
the population. In the larger cities and the more densely pop- 
ulated rural districts pauperism is increasing. Mr. Flower in 
his little book " Civilization's Inferno," has given unimpeach- 
able evidence of the existence of poverty and wretchedness in 
Boston, the Athens of America, so utterly squalid and hopeless 
that one with the horrible picture before his mental vision is 
almost tempted to doubt whether justice has any place in the 
affairs of men. Yet such conditions exist in all the larger cities 
where wealth accumulations are greatest. 

Wages have only been maintained by labor organizations; 
but recent events convey the warning, that the apprehension of 
strikes will soon have spent its force, and then corporate wealth, 
no longer under its spell, will boldly throw off the mask behind 
which it has been masquerading as the friend of labor, and 
freely cut wages to enhance the gains of capital. The example 
of the Pullman Company will not be without its legitimate 
fruit; but while it carries to corporate wealth throughout the 
country a suggestive illustration of how the workingman may 
be fleeced and robbed with impunity, it may serve to accentuate 
the evil of monopoly which now overshadows and darkens the 
world's productive labor. Pullman's monopoly from the stand- 
point of capital, is simply ideal. Here is a corporation own- 
ing a tract of land on which it has erected a great car-building 
plant, churches, school-houses, and dwelling houses in which 
to keep its thousands of employes. It waters its stock, until 
property representing $10,000,000 of invested capital is con- 
verted into a dividend pajang ivestment of more than $36,000,- 
000.00, without the addition of a dollar of real value. To 
enable it to continue its periodical dividend payments and so 
maintain the value of this watered stock, it cuts the wages of 
its employes in a period of depression and panic, but still 
remorselessly collects its exorbitant rent. Here the laborer is 
both tenant and employe — the victim at once of both usury and 
rent. He is dependent upon Pullman for work, for the oppor- 
tunity to earn wages, to feed and clothe his family — he is 
dependent upon Pullman for standing-place on the earth. Thus 
Pullman holds a monopoly of the land which is nature's 



Tin<: IJVV) WORK Ol' THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 187 

divinely given opportunity to work, and of the opportunity 
artificially created by the investment of capital. By the wages 
which Pullman pays to his employe, the employe is enabled to 
pay rent to Pullman. When wages cease, rent ceases; but 
eviction follows the cessation of rent. Thus the apprehension 
of eviction which means loss of home to the laborer and his 
family, hangs perpetually over the latter to enforce silence 
and submission, when wages are cut to make dividends for 
fictitious stock. If the situation suggests the impolicy of 
cutting w^ages, capital may still maintain its margin of profit b)' 
raising the scale of rent. In a big city land values are ever 
advancing, and the landlord finds in this fact an always present 
justification for increasing rent. Who will contend that the 
emplo3^e of Pullman, working under such conditions, is a free- 
man. Yet, the employes of every mining corporation in the 
country, except in the few instances in which the local laws 
have afibrded some mitigation, are in a condition of servitude 
even worse, if possible, than that which prevails at Pullman. 
Extend the two-fold scheme of monopoly and spoliation so 
cunningly devised by the Pullman Company to all the corpora- 
tions handling large investments in mining, manufacturing and 
mechanical pursuits, and the condition of the wage-worker and 
artisan would become utterl}^ hopeless and helpless. And that 
our public policies must rapidly carry us in this direction has 
been made more evident by the recent injection of the element 
of force into the settlement of labor disputes. Heretofore, con- 
troversies between railroad companies and their employes, 
although accompanied by the incidental stoppage of the mails 
and the interruption of interstate commerce, have not been 
regarded as presenting conditions of violence justifying the use 
of the regular army. 

The great strike of 188(3 was attended by not only these in- 
conveniences but by domestic violence of a very serious char- 
acter, involving the destruction of property and loss of life. 
Yet it did not then occur to the national authorities that the 
general government ought to interfere. It was left for the ad- 
ministration which claims to represent the party of strict con- 
struction and state rights, to send the regular army into the 



188 THK tIFE WORK OK TMOMAS L. NUGEN'f, 

State of Illinois against the protest of her executive, profess- 
edly for the purpose of suppressing insurrections against the 
national authority, to protect the property and enforce the laws 
of the United States, but in reality to aid the railways in over- 
coming the strike. It was and is claimed by some that Debs 
and his fellow-strikers had entered into a combination to pre- 
vent the carriage of the mails and obstruct the movement of 
inter-state commerce; but the history of this unfortunate and 
ill-advised strike will be searched in vain for a single declara- 
tion of Debs or his followers showing anything more criminal 
than a common purpose to quit the service of the railway com- 
panies, and thus by preventing the hauling of Pullman sleep- 
ers to bring about a settlement between the Pullman company 
and its employes. The intent to oppose the enforcement of a 
United States law or the execution of the process of United 
States courts, or to obstruct the movement of inter-state com- 
merce, was clearly not embraced within a general purpose di- 
rected against private railway corporations alone, and looking 
to cessation of service and its resulting inconvenience to such 
corporations as a means of compelling the equitable adjustment 
of a wage question. 

It is admitted that in the settlement of such questions the 
national authority could not be invoked, and it doubtless will 
not be contended by fair minded men that there was any ex- 
pressly announced purpose on the part of Debs and his follow- 
ers, in going into the strike, that impressed upon the strike 
itself the character of an insurrection, or rebellion, or a riotous 
combination or domestic violence. But after the strike was on, 
the lawless and vicious classes swarmed forth from the slums 
of Chicago, and aided possibly by some intemperate and reck- 
less strikers, began the dreadful work of arson and robbery. 
Here was a clear case of a mob taking advantage of a peculiar 
condition to violate the law and destroy private property. At 
the worst it was a case of " domestic violence " against which 
the national government is required by the Constitution to pro- 
tect the State on application of its legislature and executive. 
To say that the President could constitutionally under such cir- 
cumstances, on his own motion send the army to Chicago, to 



THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



189 



virtually supercede the civil authorities, take possession of the 
city make arrests, shoot and bayonet law-breakers as public 
enemies— in fact to treat the case as in all essential respects one 
of overt and actual war, to do all of this against the will of the 
State executive expressly asserting his ability to handle the sit- 
uation, is to fly in the face of all precedent and the plain spirit 
of the organic law. The condition however had not, when the 
army was ordered to Chicago, reached the stage of actual vio- 
lence. The justification therefore for this extraordinary step 
must rest not in the existence of domestic violence, but in the 
fact that the demonstrations of the strikers and their sympa- 
thizers incidentally impeded the mails, obstructed inter-state 
commerce and imperiled the public property— and m the fur- 
ther allecred fact that the strikers themselves were resisting the 
enforcement of the ' ' omnibus ' ' injunction decree. These facts 
however fall far short of affording even a reasonable excuse 
for the action taken by Mr. Cleveland. When carefully con- 
sidered the real facts disclose at the worst only a case of riotous 
gatherings of people, differing only from ordinary mobs in the 
extent of the demonstrations and the number of persons en- 
o-aged in them. Congress has power to "declare war," to 
" raise and support armies," to " provide and maintain a navy," 
to " provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of 
the Union suppress insurrections, and repel invasion," and it 
is made the duty of the United States to " guarantee to every 
State in this Union a republican form of government, to protect 
each of them against invasion, and on application of the legis- 
lature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be 
convened) against domestic violence." 

An eminent judge of the Supreme Court of the United States 
construing these various provisions says, " Some mistake has 
arisen here probably from not adverting to the circumstance 
that Congress can alone declare war, and that all other condi- 
tions of violence are regarded by the Constitution as but ordi- 
nary cases of private outrage, to be punished by prosecutions in 
the Courts; or as insurrections, rebellions or domestic violence, 
to be put down by the Civil Authorities aided by the militia; or, 
when these prove incompetent, by the general government 



190 'nil-; i.irK work of tho:\ias h. nugent. 

wlien ;ippealed to by a Stale for aid and matters appear to the 
general government to have reached the extreme stage, requir- 
ing more force, to sustain the Civil Authorities of a State, or 
requiring a declaration of war and the exercise of all its extra- 
ordinary rights. ' ' Yes, ' ' when appealed to by a State for aid 
and matters appear to the general government to have reached 
the extreme stage " and this is said with reference to " insur- 
rections, rebellions, or domestic violence," after the Civil 
Authorities aided by the militia have proven incompetent. The 
views of Judge Woodbury, though expressed in a dissenting 
opinion, have never been seriously questioned, and they seem 
to be too reasonable and sound to admit of controversy. Cer- 
tainly the Civil disorder attending the Debs strike was at its 
worst no greater than that which during the great strike of 1877 
occasioned a loss of ten millions of dollars worth of private 
property in one County alone in Pennsylvania, and in neither 
can the disturbance be said to have been more than " domestic 
violence." In the Pennsylvania strike, the regular army was 
not used. Why was it hastened to Chicago, accompanied by 
proclamations and military orders in all respects similar to 
those with which the people of the North and South were 
familiar something over thirty years ago? Was it because 
in the Civil Institutions of the country the spirit of plutocracy 
had at last become ascendant, and that by the very irony of 
fate it had first found definite embodiment in an administration 
chosen by the party of strict construction ? 

The learned judge to whom I have referred said further in 
the opinion from which I have quoted, ' ' On the contrary it 
seems very obvious, as before suggested, that in periods of civil 
commotion, the first and only legal measure to test the rights 
of parties and sustain the public peace under threatened violence 
is to appeal to the laws and the judicial tribunals. When these 
are obstructed or overawed, the militia are to be ordered out, 
but only to strengthen the civil power in enforcing its processes 
and upholding the laws. Then in extreme cases, another assist- 
ance is resorted to in the suspension of the writ of habeas 
corpus. And finally, if actual force, exercised in the field 
against those in battle array and not liable to be subdued in 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 191 

any other manner, becomes necessary, as quasi- war, whether 
against a foreign foe or rebels, it must first as to the former, 
be declared by Congress, or recognized and allowed by it as to 
the latter, under the duty of the United States, ' to protect each 
of them against invasion ' and ' against domestic violence. ' 
(Art. 4, Sec. 4.) When this is not done in a particular case 
by Congress, if then in session, it is done by the president in 
conformity to the Constitution (Art. 1, Sec. 8) and the Act of 
Congress of February 28, 1795, to " provide for calling forth 
the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrec- 
tions, and repel invasions. ' ' This is wiser language than ever 
emanated from Judge Cooley, wiser because more filled with 
the true spirit of the Constitution. The Constitution lodges the 
power to declare war in Congress exclusively. To make this 
effective, it also delegates to Congress the power to " raise and 
support armies." Nowhere does it expressly authorize the 
employment of the regular army in enforcing the law, or in 
suppressing insurrections or "domestic violence." For this 
purpose Congress was given the power to " provide for calling 
forth," not the army, but the militia, the "citizen soldiery." 
And as if to provide against invasions of states rights in the 
use of this force, while the power is given to Congress to " pro- 
vide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia, and 
for governing such part of them as may be employed in the 
service of the United States' ' the Constitution expressly reserved 
to the states respectively the ' ' appointment of the officers and 
the authority of training the militia according to the discipline 
prescribed by Congress." Indeed, the regular or standing 
army has never in the history of this country been regarded 
as a law-enforcing body, but rather as one appropriate to a state 
of war requiring something more than the militia for the 
' ' Common defense. " It is only when ' ' conditions of violence' ' 
reach the stage of war, or quasi-war, and actual force, exercised 
in the field against those in battle array and not apt to be sub- 
dued in any other manner, becomes necessary," that the use of 
the regular army can be justified, for then only can the war- 
making power of the general government be constitutionally 
brought into exercise. 



192 THK I.IKK WORK Ol' THOMAS 1.. NUfiKNT. 

The slaiulin,^- army is raised for war. to coi)e with a public 
enemy in "battle array," not to quell civi'l disturbances, or 
mere local revolts, still less to suppress disorderly mobs of 
men and women, and least of all to guard and protect private 
property against thieves and incendiaries. Let it be under- 
stood, that the regular or standing army is but the instrument 
or weapon provided under the Constitution to give effect to the 
war-making .power and that its use, therefore, is properly 
restricted to emergencies which call that power into exercise — 
let this be understood, and it can be seen at a glance how little 
there was in the emeute at Chicago to warrant the President in 
turning that community over to the tender mercies of General 
Miles and his battalions. Governor Altgeld, in his letter to 
Mr. Cleveland protesting against the use of the army, declares 
that up to that time he had received no request from either 
citizen or official for the use of State militia at Chicago, and 
that there were then in Chicago three regiments of infantry, 
one company of artillery, and one troop of cavalry, belonging 
to the State forces and ready for use at any time in quelling 
disturbances. Yet, the President in advance of any actual 
violence, upon a theory invented for the occasion, and finding 
its only support in laws which have always been severely 
denounced by Southern Democrats as invasions of State rights 
(viz.: a Republican war measure of 1861 and the the " Ku- 
Klux" Act of 1871), ignores the Governor, and without note 
of warning hurries his battalions to the front. Even after 
this, in the first serious collision with the mob, the State forces 
alone took part. The coming of Gen. Miles with his troops 
seemed indeed to precipitate a crisis, and make matters worse. 
In the case of the whisky rebellion in Pennsylvania, the people 
in several counties had openly combined to resist the collection 
of revenue through a Federal statute. President Washington, 
though a Federalist, first called on the executive of Pennsyl- 
vania to aid the civil authorities in enforcing the law by means 
of the local militia, and when finally his administration deter- 
mined, after more than three years of waiting, to resort to 
extraordinary measures, he still was careful to seek and obtain 
the co-operation of the governor in the execution of such 



THK IJFI? WORK OF THOMAS L. NUCxENT. 193 

measures. And lest the just boundaries imposed by the con- 
stitution might be overstepped, the militia had strict orders not 
to act independently themselves, but to simply accompany 
the civil officers and support them in their executing the process 
of the courts. Here was a case of open, avowed insurrection 
against the national authority, and yet the use of State troops 
was held in strict subordination to the civil authorities. In 
Chicago there was nothing resembling an insurrection — at its 
worst it was merely a case of domestic violence. If any sub- 
ject of national jurisdiction was affected at all, it was only 
collaterally so and might have resulted from almost any local 
lawlessness in almost any section of the country. Yet, upon a 
mere constructive resistance of national law, Mr. Cleveland virtu- 
ally turns the case over to the discretionary control of regular 
army officers. Justification for the use of the regular army can 
never arise under the Constitution upon any mere collateral or 
incidental effects likely to flow from domestic violence, nor upon a 
mere constructive infringement of national authority. When 
justification exists at all, the conditions of violence can never 
be matters of dispute or doubt — they must from their nature 
present a case of open and actual war or quasi war. To what 
extent the President's disregard of old landmarks of construc- 
tion may be traceable to the influence of the corporation lawyer 
who is the legal adviser of his administration raa)^ never be 
known; but Mr. Cleveland is apparently more affected by a 
condition than a theory, and why he recognized the condition 
rather than the theory of constitutional construction involved 
in the recent strike may be inferred from what is said in the 
the following editorial taken from the New York World of 
July 5th:— 

" An esteemed contemporary refers to Mr. Olney as having 
' left the service of the corporations to become Attorney Gen- 
eral;' he has never left the service of the corporations. He 
simply took a public position in which his services to them 
would be more valuable. Does his interference in the Western 
Railroad Strikes look as if he had ceased to .serve the corpora- 
tions ? They could afford to pension him for life for this one 
service if he had never rendered another. " The essay of Gen- 



194 THE l^IFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

eral Miles in the North American Review giving his impressions 
of the object lessons in constitutional construction so vividly 
given at Chicago is a fitting epilogue to this tragedy in real 
life. Mr. Cleveland, however, has been sustained by the lead- 
ing men of both the old parties, with few exceptions, and by 
Democratic Conventions all over the country. As I write the 
great harmonious democratic convention at Dallas has added 
its voice to the chorus of hallelujas, by which exultant strict 
constructionists throughout the country are expressing their 
extreme joy over the stinging defeat, which arbitrary military 
power has administered to organized labor. Fortunately how- 
ever, there are a few robust patriots like Gov. Hogg who have 
bravely sounded the alarm. They see plainly that beneath 
this shadow of arbitrary military power thus projected into 
State affairs, the spirit of freedom must suffer the chill of 
death. They are making the appeal from Ccesar to the peo- 
ple — to the people who cannot be overawed and who have never 
failed to take care of their own liberties. The part}'" leaders 
who could not tolerate deputy marshals around the polls for 
the ostensible purpose of protecting the purity of the ballot cast 
at elections confessedly within the constitutional power of Con- 
gress to regulate, stand committed to the use of a more danger- 
ous power in matters peculiarly within the jurisdiction and con- 
trol of the States. When such appeal is made populists cannot 
be indifferent. In Texas they have declared unequivocally 
in favor of "local self-government." Their political action 
and utterances must be in keeping with this noble declaration; 
and to give it effect, they invite the co-operation of those patri- 
otic democrats who, sharing with them the views here expressed 
on this momentous question, can find no sympathy or co-oper- 
ation within their own organization. But if this unwarranted 
use of the military arm of the government is dangerous when 
viewed as a question affecting the rights of the States and the 
liberties of the citizen, the danger is greatly enhanced by the 
fact, that the precedent in effect commits the government to a 
policy of force extorted in behalf of organized capital in its con- 
flicts with labor. Unless a civil revolt effected at the ballot 
box shall speedily drive the government back to strict constitu- 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 195 

tional methods, the advance of organized capital towards abso- 
kite dominion over labor must be greatly accelerated by the 
immense advantage thus acquired, since it is not to be presumed, 
that the monopolies which have been fostered and built up by 
vicious public policies will fail to grasp the full significance of 
this last vStep which the national government has taken in their 
behalf. Labor however can only hope to achieve a victory 
worthy of the name by strictly peaceable and orderly methods. 
The power with which the corporations are now armed cannot 
be overcome by strikes, which at best are unwise and often- 
times unjustifiable. Besides, the conditions they leave behind 
are frequently worse than those which aroused and provoked 
them. In addition to all of this, it must be remembered, that 
corporations are but aggregations of individuals, and individuals 
are very much alike in whatever business or pursuit they may 
be engaged. Unfortunately the laboring man is not always 
unselfish, but, fortunately, the capitalist is not always sordid. 
It is a fact that calls for grateful recognition, that among all 
classes, in every trade, business, or calling, there are noble, 
humane, fair-minded men, whose sympathies quickly respond to 
the demands (jf justice, whose hearts are deeply affected by 
wrongful conditions, and who are not practical reformers battling 
for the people's rights because, involved in the general move- 
ment and organized social life of the times, the view-point from 
which they regard economic questions prevents them from rec- 
ognizing fundamental truths which are now rapidly coming 
forth into the common thought of the people. Wealth acquired 
in legitimate ways, by the exercise of the industry and skill 
and the investment of capital, cannot hurt either its possessor 
or the community. It is the spirit of gain run to riot in monopo- 
lies, that poisons and corrupts the fountains of individual and 
social life: and against this spirit must the efforts of populists 
be directed. But in combatting monopoly, let us never forget 
that neither force nor infringement of individual liberty is justi- 
fiable or safe. lyct us remember that we ought above all others 
to set ourselves against anarchy in every form, against every 
measure calculated to break down the security which the laws 
afford to private property, and in favor only of those lawful and 



196 THE UFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

orderly methods which can always be successfully defended, and 
the observance of which will never fail to enlist for the work- 
ingman the sympathies of the good and worthy people of every 
class. Let us cultivate the duty of submission to lawful author- 
ity, and in times of civil commotion, be first to give it support 
in its conflicts with the lawless. A good cause committed to 
violent methods inevitably finds in them its grave. An intel- 
ligent ballot is the only refuge of justice and liberty. Demo- 
cratic policies will not reach and cure existing evils. England 
has for more than fifty years had a tariff system which more 
closely approximates free trade than any thing we can hope to 
obtain in the next twenty-five years. Yet England is frequently 
convulsed with strikes of fearful magnitude, wealth accumula- 
tions in the hands of the few have there grown to vast propor- 
tions, pauperism exists in the most aggravated forms and is 
steadily increasing, and the labor question is as with us the 
most vital of all public questions. During the past winter two 
thousand bare-footed children were fed at the charity soup 
houses of L/Ondon in one day, so it was stated in the newspapers, 
and it is also said, that many more went away unfed because 
the soup would not go around. This, in the capital city of the 
great credit nation, whose capitalists lend money to all other 
nations, and dominate every field of finance and trade through- 
out the habitable globe. 

This creditor nation has not only had free trade for more 
than fifty years, but the single gold standard for a much 
greater length of time. And worse still, it has had land mo- 
nopoly in its most aggravated form for many years. Under 
protection and practically the same kind of a money system, 
with land monopoly rapidly growing to enormous proportions, 
we have been for the past thirty years rapidly producing the 
same social conditions.* 

Tariff for revenue only, free trade, protection, each alike 
will fail to aflFord a full solution of the real difficulty, and now 
that the Democratic administration has brought forth a tariff 



* " In Darkest England," written by General Booth, is appropriately 
supplemented l)y "If Christ Came to Chicago," written by \Vm. T. Stead, 
an English journalist. 



THE UFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 197 

bill not only recognizing the principle of protection, but specially- 
designed to build up a sugar trust from which both of the old 
parties have heretofore derived campaign funds, it may be safely 
assumed that the fight for free trade has been lost, unless it 
shall be taken up and fought out by the People's party on 
rational lines. The plank of the National Democratic plat- 
form declaring protection to be unconstitutional must therefore 
be set down as mere buncombe, especially in view of the fact 
that the much- vaunted Wilson bill, as originally introduced, 
provided for the continuance of the sugar bounty for eight 
years — that is to say, for a violation of the constitution for 
eight years longer. 

The silver declaration in the National Democratic platform 
of 1892 was never intended as a free coinage plank. Mr. Cleve- 
land, before his first inauguration, in a letter written to a number 
of Democratic congressmen who sought his views on the ques- 
tion, emphatically declared his opposition to the continued 
coinage of silver, and throughout the whole of his first admin- 
istration reiterated his opposition in, I believe, every message 
delivered by him to Congress. In this opposition he was sup- 
ported by every member of his cabinet, and particularly by 
his two secretaries of the Treasury. About a year before his 
last nomination, in a letter addressed to a public meeting in 
New York City, he repeated his opposition in terms almost 
insulting to the advocates of free silver — denouncing any inde- 
pendent action of the government to provide for free coinage 
asa " dangerous and reckles experiment." 

These views thus publicly expressed were known and under- 
stood thoughout the entire country, and so notorious were they 
that Senator Coke, in an eloquent and powerful speech 
delivered in the United States Senate some months before the 
meeting of the Chicago Convention, strongly criticised Cleve- 
land for his unrelenting opposition to the white metal, and 
declared in the most impres.sive manner that his nomination for 
the presidency in 1892 would destroy all hope of free silver for 
four years. When the Chicago Convention met, Mr. Cleve- 
land's friends, including members of his first cabinet were on 
hand to shape the silver plank in his interest. In vain did 



198 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT, 

Patterson of Colorado beg for the insertion of the word " free " 
before "coinage," in order to satisfy the western silver men, 
that democracy was not inimical to their interests. The ex- 
president's friends refused this small concession and so shaped 
the silver plank that the most pronounced and determined 
enemy of free coinage in the Union could stand upon it. When 
adopted, this plank met with the unqualified endorsement of 
the business men of New York, the great newspapers of that 
city and all of Mr. Cleveland's Eastern friends — all with one 
voice declaring the plank superior to the silver plank of the 
republican platform, and all congratulating the country on the 
fact, that with Mr. Cleveland's election, the country would for 
four years at least,be safe from the so-called dangers of free silver 
coinage. Notwithstanding all of this, and the further fact that 
a large and respected element of the democratic party in Texas 
in 1892 supported the Cleveland construction of the silver 
plank in a campaign largely turning upon this issue, the oppo- 
site view, in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of silver 
at the ratio of 16 to 1, as embodied in the Hogg platform met 
with the overwhelming endorsement of the people of Texas, 
who were persuaded to believe that the carshed platform was 
entirely consistent with that of the national democracy on this 
great question. After Mr. Cleveland's inauguration, the open 
assault on silver, which had been kept down during the cam- 
paign was begun with vigor and determination, and continued 
until the repeal of the purchasing clause of the Sherman act 
was effected, thus destroying the silver mining industries and 
effectually closing the mints to silver, except to the extent 
that a hostile cabinet might grudgingly permit a limited coin- 
age of the idle bullion already owned by the government. 
Since that fateful stoppage of silver coinage, no intimation has 
been given by the administration that the effort to secure inter- 
national agreement will ever be renewed, and although the 
friends of repeal predicted returning prosperity and a speedy 
demand from England for an international conference to effect 
the restoration of silver to its ancient place in the world's 
coinage, not one of these predictions has been verified. 

On the contrary, panic, monetary stringency and falling 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



199 



prices have continued to vex and distress the people, leaving 
them little to hope for in the future in the way of relief from 
present unhappy conditions. But this is not all. The candi- 
date for the United States Senate, who has received well nigh 
unanimous Democratic endorsement, and the five Democratic 
candidates for governor, have spoken all over the state in favor 
of free coinage at the present ratio of 16 to 1, and have freely 
advocated this measure as a means of bringing about an enlarge- 
ment of the volume of circulation, the necessity of which all 
have conceded. Yet, the Democratic State Convention, with 
a degree of recklessness almost surpassing belief, endorses 
Cleveland's anti-silver policy without any qualification whatso- 
. ever. It is thus definitely settled, that the organized Democ- 
racy of Texas stand committed to the indefinite maintenance 
of the present monetary status. I say indefinite, because con- 
fessedly Cleveland only consents that silver be reinstated 
through international agreement, and it is impossible to believe 
that England, without whose co-operation an international 
acrreement can never be reached, will at any time within the near 
future consent to such adjustment. For more than half a cen- 
tury she has steadily, unremittingly schemed to bring about the 
general adoption of the single gold standard. This policy has 
enriched beyond calculation her nionied men, and, now that 
she has after so many years of effort succeeded in dragooning 
her greatest rival into the adoption of her monetary basis, it is 
the height of folly to presume that she can be induced to enter 
into negotiations which might result in the loss of that finan- 
cial supremacy which her time-honored policy has brought her. 
There is now but one free silver party. That party having 
promulgated its faith in the Omaha platform, makes its direct 
appeal to the American people in favor of an independent 
American policy, and in opposition to that spirit of subserviency 
which has basely surrendered the interests of our people into 
the hands of an oligarchy of British bankers and bondholders. 
We will champion the cause of the thousands of people in the 
West who have been driven into poverty by the hostility of the 
present administration to silver, and of the fanners and labor- 
ing men of the South and West who, by the same policy, have 



200 THK I.IFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

been the victims of falling prices and low wages. We will 
stand for American manhood which is so largely involved in 
this resistance to foreign dictation. In the interest of all the 
people we will fight for silver at the old ratio of 16 to 1, and on 
this issue gladly accept from Democracy the gage of battle. 

Not only has democracy failed to give us free silver, or tariff 
for revenue only, but its large majority in the house has not 
sufficed to pass the only measure proposed by their national 
platform for an increase of the circulation, viz: the repeal ot 
the 10 per cent tax on state bank circulation. Col. Chilton 
more than two years ago in a set speech advocated this measure 
and the establi.shment of state banks of issue, as a means of 
supplying local circulation in the states. Judge Reagan in his 
letter to Mr. Moore of Brown wood advocated the same means 
of securing "local supplies of money." These views thus 
advocated by Col. Chilton and Judge Reagan were incorporated 
into the platform on which the Hogg democracy won the vic- 
tory of 1892. 

The demand for this same measure stands virtually in the 
national democratic platform to-day. In the present campaign. 
Judge Reagan with his well-known tenacity has continued to 
press this view, but significantly enough it has been ignored by 
Col. Chilton, who now sees in free coinage of silver the only 
means of expanding the currency. Col. Chilton is a very able 
man — a young and growing man, and it is possibly this which 
has enabled him to grow within the period of two years out of 
the state bank delusion. John C. Calhoun away back in the 
thirties saw the fatal tendencies of this system of state banks 
of issue, and in a great speech stated his opinion in the follow- 
ing language: "Of all institutions affecting the great question 
of the distribution of wealth, a question least explored and the 
most important of any in the whole range of political econoni}^, 
the banking institution has, if not the greatest, one of the 
greatest and I fear most pernicious influences. ' ' This institu- 
tion which in Mr. Calhoun's opinion has .such a "pernicious" 
influence on the question of the distribution of wealth, tending 
as he believed to produce an unjiist concentration of wealth in 
the hands of the few, is to-day the only means of expanding 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



201 



the currency which the democratic platform offers the country. 
The practical abandonment of this measure by the democratic 
Congress leaves us very much in the dark as to what other 
expedient future democratic conventions may devise to meet the 
pressing demand for more money, or for that matter, whether 
in view of the complete elimination of silver coinage, an in- 
crease in the currency enters at all into the democratic scheme 
of relief— if indeed there is any such scheme. We have the 
democratic party now committed to protection against free sil- 
ver, and in favor of the use of the regular army by the presi- 
dent of his own motion and on his own judgment in puttmg 
down strikes and mob violence in the states. All of these 
things the republican party favors, with the difference chiefly 
that1:hey would fix the tariff schedules somewhat higher than 
those enacted in the Senate bill. The Senate bill is doubtless 
better than the McKinley bill, or rather, in its degree of bad- 
ness, judged from a stand-point of rational free trade, not so 
objectionable as that consummate achievement of republican 
protection ingenuity; but the result at best is discouraging 
enough when viewed as the outcome of thirty odd years of dis- 
cussion, conducted, at least in the south, on lines laid down by 
the "lime honored principles of the democratic party. ' ' All of 
this failure to rise to the magnitude of a great occasion is clearly 
the result of inability to grasp the full situation, which needs, 
not palliatives, but a radical cure of social ills. 

The position of the People's party is that the causes of the 
widespread depression in the industrial world and its attendant 
evils lie deeper than the tariff question— that they in fact are to 
be found in the monopolies of land, money and transportation, 
which have grown up all over the civilized world. All wealth 
is produced ])y labor applied to land. This is a universal truth 
applicable to all social conditions whatever. The free produc- 
tion of wealth and its wide and equitable diffusion among the 
people depend upon the free and active employment of labor, 
and, as labor cannot be effectually employed without the use 
of land, any policy which virtually withdraws land from use 
and places it beyond the reach of labor, must necessarily result 
in diminished production, enforced idleness, reduced cousunip 



202 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

tion, and widespread poverty and distress. The monopoliza- 
tion of land, therefore, by individuals or corporations, for 
speculative purposes, tends to produce all of these unhappy 
results, since it practically prevents labor from having access 
to it. The monopolization of certain portions of the earth's 
surface for agricultural or other useful purposes is not an evil, 
since all of these uses are beneficial in themselves, and strictly 
in the line of legitimate production. Speculation holds land 
out of use altogether, until enhanced values produced b3' the 
settlement and improvement of the country enable the owner 
to reap a harvest of wealth by its sale. Now, these enhanced 
values are the products not of the owner's labor but of the labor, 
skill and investments of entire communities. In Texas vast 
bodies are owned by non-residents who not only evade the pay- 
ment of taxes for many years at a time, but withhold their 
lands from use, and finally sell at greatly enhanced prices. 
Now, no populist advocates the policy of destroying land titles, 
nor do they favor the subdivision of property: nor the limita- 
tion of land ownership, but they recognize the fact, that the 
acquisition or monopolization of large bodies of land for specu- 
lative purposes only — that is to say, for the mere purpose of 
holding it out of use and finally disposing of it at enormously 
increased values to which the owner has not contributed by an 
hour's labor or the investment of a dollar in productive industry, 
is a great evil for which a remedy ought to be found. A partial 
remedy is suggested in the reclamation of unearned railway 
grants and the prevention of corporate ownership beyond the 
actual needs of the corporation's business. There are other 
remedies which will readily suggest themselves to intelligent 
legislators, but which need- not here be noticed. The Omaha 
platform declares, that "the land, including all the natural 
sources of wealth, is the heritage of the people and should not 
be monopolized for speculative purposes. ' ' It will be seen, that 
this declaration is against land monopoly for speculative pur- 
poses, not against land-ownership for possession and use. It 
recognizes a great and constantly growing evil, and declares a 
truth which all intelligent and humane men will recognize at 
a glance. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



203 



The national democratic platform itself arraigns the republi- 
can party for squandering the public lands which are declared 
by it to be the " people's heritage." Now while titles to lands 
acquired from the government are to be recognized and pro- 
tected, and while populists are far from seeking to destroy them, 
surely it is proper that, by some constitutional legislation, rem- 
edies should be provided to check speculation inland by which 
millions of our people have been prevented from providing 
homes for their families, and untold wealth has been concen- 
trated in the hands of a few individuals and corporations— thus 
robbing productive industry of that which under normal and 
proper conditions it would have acquired. No land policy, 
however, can be complete which does not provide for such laws 
as will compel the proper assessment of unused land, so largely 
held by non-resident owners, and upon which taxes are habitu- 
ally left unpaid. Our laws are in many respects so defective, 
that under our Supreme Court decisions it is "doubtful whether 
a valid tax title can now be made. Since these decisions were 
rendered, no effort has apparently been made to remedy the de- 
fects, and yet it is perfectly practicable to do so, and thus secure 
valid tax titles to the purchasers at tax sales, subject to the two 
years privilege of redemption. Such amendments should be 
enacted at once. 

Here then are the remedies we propose, viz: the destruction 
of transportation monopoly, money monopoly and the monopo- 
lization of land for speculative purposes. We in Texas favor 
a policy of tariff reform, far more effective and less destructive 
to our own interests, than the only policy which the democratic 
administration has been able to give the country. Thorough, 
equitable revision in every direction is the policy of populists; 
but they oppose the policy which, v/hile destroying the great 
wool industry of this State, builds up the manufacturing inter- 
ests of New England. We will go to any proper length in a 
comprehensive reduction of tariff schedules, upon a fair and 
equitable rule, but we insist that with either free trade or pro- 
tection, there can be no permanent relief until the three great 
monopolies named shall have been shorn of their power to tax 
and exploit labor; and as measures looking to this end, we 



204 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

favor government ownership of railroads to the extent neces- 
sary to control rates, government ownership of telegraph and 
telephone lines and other public utilities, the abolition of all 
private banks of issue, whether national or state, free coinage 
of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, and the emission of paper cur- 
rency by the direct act of government. These with postal sav- 
ings banks, and other like measures, we believe will relieve 
the prevalent distress and lift from labor the burdens which now 
oppress it. 

With reference to State policy, we favor legislation in line 
with the demands of organized labor, including that for the 
effective arbitration of labor disputes. Arbitration must, to be 
productive of any practical good, be such as the law can enforce, 
and to provide for arbitration of this kind it is doubtless neces- 
sary that the State constitution should be amended. Whatever 
can be done on this line we stand pledged to do. Furthermore 
if entrusted with the administration of state affairs, there will 
be no undoing of what has been accomplished by Gov. Hogg's 
administration for the welfare of the people of the State. The 
commission law, the laws regulating the issuing of bonds by 
railroads, corporations and by counties, cities and towns, the 
law prohibiting perpetuities, by which corporations can no 
longer acquire and hold land above the needs of their business, 
a law against alien land ownership — all of these and other 
beneficial laws now upon the statute books must be adhered to 
and enforced. They are wise and just, and cannot but con- 
duce to the welfare, the happiness and prosperity of the people. 
Moreover, speaking for myself, I pledge ray l^est efforts, if 
elected, towards the maintenance of the home for maimed and 
indigent ex-confederates. These defenders of the South, in 
heroic struggle for what we believed to be right, must be pro- 
vided for, not grudgingly, but generouslJ^, as becomes a noble 
and grateful people. Let this sacred debt be paid by an impe- 
rial State, with a hand so lavish and a magnanimity so royal 
and true, that the benefaction shall carry no blush to the war- 
rior's face nor liuml)le his martial pride with the suggestion of 
odious charity. 

Finally, fellow citizens, let me say that the great, vital, con- 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



205 



trolling question of the times is the "labor question." A 
thorough analysis of the situation discloses this " question of 
questions" lying at the center of the social difficulties into 
which our country has been led. Solve this question, so that 
the man who produces wealth shall own a just proportion 
of it and those difficulties will vanish as mists before the rising 
sun ' Labor, slowly rising from the dust of ages, stands at 
last erect upon its feet. Already it confronts capital, not to 
provoke strife, but for reconciliation and peace. It does not 
ask charity, it demands justice. It does not ask that capital 
be enslaved, but that it, the age-old burden-bearer be made free. 
It demands for itself, not superiority, but equality; and it 
knows by a wise instinct that, in the opening epoch now 
dawning upon the world, equality is coming to it in the sure 
unfoldings of God's providence. This it knows; and it rejoices 
that in that day of deliverance the doom of "special privi- 
leges" shall be pronounced, and "equal rights" shall come to 
all alike. 



THE I.IFE WORK OF THOMAS I,. NUGENT. -^07 



JUDGE NUGENT ON FINANCE 



HIS GREAT SPEECH BEFORE THE FARMERS' STATE 
ALLIANCE AT LAMPASAS. 



An Able Presentation of the Money Question, Showing the Position of the 
Different Parties on that Issue, 

[Thf .Southern Mercury, Dallas Texas, Aug. 'J9, 1895. j 

Prior to the civil war there was no silver question in this 
country — that is, no question involving the proposition to per- 
manently demonetize silver, or limit its coinage. If it existed 
in the mind of any public man of prominence, whose views 
could have had any serious effect on the public policies of the 
times, it was prudently kept from the masses. It is true, that 
to meet a contingency, Mr. Jefferson directed the mints to cease 
coining silver dollars; that to meet another contingency the 
ratio was changed in 1834, and that to meet still another sup- 
posed contingency, the act of 1853 reduced the weight of the 
minor coins and limited their legal tender qualities to payments 
not exceeding five dollars. Yet, during all the.se years, no 
leading public man ever suggested that the mints should be 
closed to either metal, or that either should have less of debt- 
paying capacity than the other. There mu.st have been cog- 
ent reasons for this eighty years of failure to raise a question 
which is now agitating the popular mind throughout the length 
and breadth of the country. The period embraced between 
1792 and I860 was largely devoted to the study and discu.ssion 
of the federal constitution. Almost every important question 
of public policy, which gave rise to political differences, and 



208 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUCEXT. 

determined party alignments, was either settled upon constitu- 
tional grounds, or involved one or more questions of constitu- 
tional construction. 

The alien and sedition laws, the national bank act, the acqui- 
sition of new territory, the war of 1812, the formation and 
admission of new states, the slavery question in all of its vary- 
ing phases, internal improvements, coinage and banking, all 
gave rise to widespread discussions of constitutional limitations, 
which extended over many years. Great men, and the lesser 
luminaries who circled around them, constantly made their 
appeals to the organic law and taught the extreme necessity 
of ob.serv'ing its just limitations, and the dangef of infracting its 
provisions. It was, they urged, the charter of our liberties, 
and to maintain the boundaries which it set around the exercise 
of power, and to keep alive in the breasts of the people the jeal- 
ous suspicion with which they were taught to regard encroach- 
ments of government upon the domain of natural rights, seemed 
to them conditions essential to the successful working out of 
the problem of self-government. In public estimation, the 
organic law, which bound the states together in one federated 
whole, became invested with peculiar sanctity, and the rudest 
constituencies, taught to value individual liberty, were wont to 
insist upon a strict observance of its provisions. " Is it consti- 
tutional ?" asked the statesmen of that time, respecting any 
great measure affecting the public administration. " Is it con- 
stitutional ? ' ' repeated the citizen, from the cultured centers of 
population to the rude dwellers on the frontiers. The very 
spirit of the constitution pervaded the political literature of the 
times. Newspapers, public addresses, political discussions, 
forensic arguments, teemed with it — diffused it as a quickening, 
vitalizing, uplifting power, through all the ranks of society. It 
unified, glorified the great American people, determined their 
character and fixed the order of their civilization — marked out 
in fact for them the lines of social evolution. 

And in spite of differences in local interest and prejudice, it 
can truthfully be said that no people were ever more deeply 
affected by the fundamental law in which their civil institutions 
were laid and the social conditions out of which they grew. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS 1,. NUGENT. 209 

The student of American history cannot but note how often 
and how thoroughly, during the period antedating our civil 
war, the national constitution was studied, analyzed and dis- 
cussed, how patiently and exhaustively the sources of informa- 
tion bearing upon its construction were explored, and with 
what depth of thought, eloquence and power its claims were 
vindicated and enforced. The genius of the era was busy 
moulding and shaping our national characteristics out of the 
traditions and experiences of American political and social life, 
and as the distinctive American type of character emerged out 
of the perturbations of the times it was easily seen to be the 
robust and vigorous embodiment of the free spirit of the consti- 
tution. During this illustrious period it was always the people's 
constitution that was interpreted in terms addressed to the pop- 
ular intelligence. 

It was the people's constitution thus expounded that wrought 
such wondrous effect upon the nation's heart and brain ; it was 
the people's constitution whose free spirit gave courage and 
hope to the masses, and found voice and expression for their 
patriotic aspirations in the political conflicts and social move- 
ments of the times. 

Yet this was a period of expansion and growth, of war and 
peace, of industrial depression and prosperity, of high prices 
and low prices, of wide fluctuations in values, of monetary 
stringencies and panics, of inflation and contractions, of booms 
and stagnations. How is the fact to be accounted for that 
throughout this period, so fruitful of issues, demanding repeated 
discussions of banks and banking, of financial and monetary 
questions, no serious effort was ever made to strike down any 
part of the constitutional coinage ? Silver ruled supreme from 
1803 to 1834, while gold fled to foreign quarters. No one pro- 
posed to cease coining gold. In 1834 the ratio was changed. 
Now silver went abroad and gold staid at home. It was not 
thought necessary to taboo silver. There was, indeed, a ques- 
tion of ratios, which occasionally commanded attention, but 
amid all the discussions to which it led, no act of absolute 
demonetization was ever seriously suggested, save the act of 



210 THK IJFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

1857, which merel}' repealed all former laws making foreign 
coins legal tender. 

It is a significant fact, that at this time the commercial ratio 
of silver to gold was a little more than fifteen and a quarter — 
or to be exact, 15.27 to one — that is, the bullion value of the 
silver exceeded its coinage value. In the same year the coin- 
ing" value of gold produced in the United States amounted to 
$55,000,000 while that of silver amounted to $50,000 only. 
Thus at a time when gold production as estimated in its coin- 
ing value was a hundred-fold greater than silver, and the white 
metal was scarce and high, we find congress demonetiziag all 
foreign coins by an act passed shortly before the' great panic of 
1857. The money power was getting in its work, but dared 
not make a direct attack upon our own silver coinage; it dared 
not bring forward any scheme to force gold monometalism 
upon the country. It was too wise to make a direct assault 
upon the constitutional bulwark, which more than half a cen- 
tury of thought and experience had erected in the popular in- 
telligence in defense of the white metal. It knew that the 
people had used the Spanish milled dollar, as the monetary 
unit before the constitution itself was framed, and it further 
knew that Hamilton, Jefferson and Washington had concurred 
in the establishment of another unit of value, in all respects 
identical, except in name, with the old Spanish dollar thus, as 
it were, embodying in the positive act of the government the 
popular will and experience; and that throughout that long 
period the American nation, while using this silver unit had 
grown rich and great and powerful. Indeed, it knew that the 
old articles of confederation which, defective as they were, had 
carried the country through the struggle for independence, 
made the Spanish milled dollar the monetary unit, and that 
this time-honored coin had been doing money duty since 1792, 
concurrently with the dollar of our own mints. To give pre- 
eminence to our own coinage, however, seemed natural, and 
the manipulators understood that our people did not object to 
any policy designed apparently to effect that object. They 
understood well, however, that the act of 1792, made the silver 
dollar the base of the monetary system — that it was made the 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUC.KNT. 211 

unit for calculating or estimating value. " Dollars or units," 
said this old law, " each to be of the value of a Spanish milled 
dollar," gold eagles " each to be of the value of ten dollars or 
units.'' Indeed, they read printed on the silver dollar coined 
under this law the words, * ' Dollar or unit. ' ' Eliminate silver! 
That were to subvert the base of the whole system— like strik- 
ing the unit one from mathematical science. To say that 
there should no longer be a silver unit or a silver symbol of 
unity in our monetary system would at once have directly op- 
posed the popular conception of the constitutional coinage, and 
would, therefore, have outraged public sentiment and aroused 
a political storm. Hence the assault first upon foreign coins, 
and the limitation of the silver coinage by a covert manipulation 
of the treasury department under the act of 1853. 

Daniel Webster had said, " I am clearly of the opinion that 
gold and silver, at rates fixed by congress, constitute the legal 
standard of value in tliis country, and that neither congress or 
any state has authority to establish any other standard or to 
displace this standard." 

This was at the time the accepted doctrine, and it had worked 
its way into the popular apprehension, and had stood with- 
out question since the organization of our government. 
"The congress shall have the power to coin, and fix the 
standard of weights and measures." The constitutional duty 
of congress was fully discharged only when it provided for the 
coinage of silver and gold, the great money metals in use at 
the adoption of the constitution, at a ratio decreed by law. 

This view prevailed among all classes of our people during 
the whole period antedating the civil war. The money power 
in view of this invincible public sentiment was discreet enough 
not to raise the question of demonetization with respect to the 
coinage of our own mints. It waited until the war had left 
its demorahzing effects upon public thought and morals, and 
the people were divided over sectional issues, and then pro- 
ceeded to accomplish the work it feared to undertake in the 
fifties. It has succeeded in practically demonetizing silver, but 
its great undertaking is not yet achieved. The question now 
before the country is not whether gold shall constitute the 



212 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

actual circulating niediuni. The i)cople who are now clamor- 
ing for the gold standard do not pretend, if they succeed, that 
the yellow metal will go into actual, bodily circulation, and do 
money duty in the channels of trade. They are wise enough 
to know that, if the world were forced to depend upon gold for 
its actual circulating money, it would be imp()ssi])le to hold the 
masses down. For the overthrow of such a system, the world 
of despairing and suffering men would rise up in open revolt — 
with arms in their hands if need be. The question at the bot- 
tom of this great agitation is larger and more far reaching even 
than the question of what the redemption money of the coun- 
try shall be. The real, vital and comprehensive question is 
what shall be the permanent financial system of the United 
States. Mr. Cleveland, and those who accept his views, in 
response to this question, are now proposing to establish a 
monetary system involving: 1st, the elimination of all forms of 
paper currency issued by the government; 2d, the use of bank 
paper as a circulating medium for the countr}'; 3d, the use of 
gold only as a redemption fund or base for bank paper. 

It will be seen at a glance that this system vn\l virtually dele- 
gate to the banks the money issuing power of the government, 
and compel the people to look to private corporations for their 
money supply. Now under such a system the gold coinage 
will do duty simply as reserves in the vaults of the banks as a 
fund kept hoarded and out of circulation, to serve as a basis to 
hold up bank credits. It will be remembered, that Mr. Cleve- 
land's policy, during his two administrations, has been to dis- 
continue silver coinage, and withdraw the greenbacks, funding 
them in interest bearing bonds, to be used by the banks in 
floating their notes. Indeed, the policy, which he has with 
great consistency and courage persisted in since his first elec- 
tion, found appropriate expression in the plan submitted by Mr. 
Carlisle to the last session of Congress. This plan was simply 
that of the bankers, formulated at Baltimore, with a few modifi- 
cations, and involved the elimination of the various forms of 
government paper from the circulation, and the issue of bank 
notes as the sole paper currency of the country. Let us submit 
this proposed system to the test of reason. Prof. Taussig, of 



THK TJFK WOKK OF THOMAS L. NUOKNT. 



213 



Harvard University, a distinguished advocate of the gold 
standard, in an article in the Popular Science Monthly, after 
commenting on the extent to which paper substitutes for money 
are used, says: "It has been attempted to obviate the dangers 
arising from the use of paper substitutes by enlarging the basis 
of specie; and the wider use of silver is advocated as one method 
of broadening the base of the superstructure. But efforts in 
this direction are likely to have but temporary results. A 
broader basis of specie is likely, under the same forces which 
now lead to an extended use of credits, to bring about in due 
time an exoansion of credit machinery in some way propor- 
tionate to the enlarged foundation on which it rests. The 
surer method, and that which is developing under the stress of 
need and the growth of experience, is to strengthen the founda- 
tion rather than to enlarge it. The specie which serves as the 
basis of the swelling volume of credit transactions is massed in 
fewer hands, and so is made more effective in sustaining the 
superstructure. The great public banks of European countries 
are guardians of the treasure which gives tone to their cur- 
rency and serves as the standard for transactions in which it is 
used to less and less extent in bodily shape." The professor, 
in alluding to the possible increase or diminution of silver pro- 
duction concludes his article as follows: "In either case silver 
ceases to be the basis on which countries of advanced civiliza- 
tion rest their monetary system, not so much for physical unfit- 
ness, as from the increasing use of a more refined and highly 
developed medium of exchange, needing for its foundation a 
moderate supply of specie, having a stable and uniform value. 
I have quoted from the writings of this accomplished man, for 
the purpose of disclosing more fully than can be gathered from 
our current political discussions, the plan or scheme of finance, 
which the administration is so actively promoting. There is 
consistency at least in this plan, and it can easily be compre- 
hended. It recognizes the indisputable fact that civilization 
demands a more refined circulation than the coins, and virtually 
concedes, as Mr. Sherman some time ago declared, that paper 
is destined to be that circulation. Now, so far, populists can 
have no serious quarrel with the system. They have been for 



214 THE LIFK WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

years saying what these gold advocates now admit, viz: that 
the world's business cannot be done with gold and silver alone, 
and that resort must be had to paper currency to supplement 
these metals. Indeed, populists recognize the utility of banks 
as business agencies. They know that they do an important 
and useful w^ork in affording the trading world the means of 
rapid and effective exchange, and in keeping its financial 
books. They are willing that banks of discount and exchange 
shall, with proper safe-guards, remain until the advance in 
social thought shall enable the government to take charge very 
largely of the country's banking. 

But they will not consent that the purely public and social 
function of dispensing money to the people shall be turned 
over to private banking corporations, whose sole motive in dis- 
charging such a function can only be the ordinary human 
desire for gain. Here, therefore, they part company with the 
gold men. Narrow the base of circulation by limiting it to gold 
— strengthen the base by massing the gold in the vaults of the 
banks; then give to the bankers the monopoly of the business 
of supplying the country with paper money thus based ! The 
policy implied in this scheme is to limit rather than inflate the 
currency; in fact, it proposes to provide against inflation except 
in so far as the bankers themselves may come to see the neces- 
sity of increasing the money supply. Note the language of Mr. 
Taussig, instating his objection to the broadening of the base 
of circulation by adding silver: "A broader basis of specie is 
likely .... to bring about an expansion of credit 
machinery in some way proportioned to the enlarged founda- 
tion." Of course the "surer method" proposed by him 
inevitably narrows the base and reduces the volume of credit 
money so that it shall not be out of proportion to the 
diminished foundation. The ' ' massing' ' of gold in the hands 
of the bankers will give "tone" to the credit circulation, and 
prevent the inflation that might result from the enlargement of 
the " foundation" by the addition of silver! This is the mone- 
tary system which we are promised by the gold people, at a 
time when the productiv^e capacity of our population is grow- 
ing as never before. Consider the fact that, by the invention 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 215 

and application of labor-saving machinery, the capacity of our 
seventy millions of people to produce wealth has been aug- 
mented tenfold over that of the same number of people a 
hundred years ago— that, to express it more plainly, these 
seventy millions of progressive, energetic and speculative 
people can, by means of their mastery of natural and mechan- 
ical forces, which the inventive genius of the age has given 
them, produce more wealth within a given time than could 
have been produced a hundred years ago by 700 millions of 
people similarly endowed with mental and physical capacity ; 
consider that this immense productive capacity, under the spur 
of constantly improving facilities for intercommunication, and 
the exchange of wealth has developed a commensurate volume 
of trade, so that the annual commercial transactions of this 
country, in the judgment of competent men, now closely 
approximate, if they do not amount to, the inconceivable sum 
of $100,000,000,000; consider also, that we are adding to our 
population at the rate of more than a million souls per annum, 
many of whom are wealth producers from abroad, and that 
the volume of transactions is thereby greatly augmented year 
by year; consider also, that improvements in the means of 
transportation and the transmission of intelligence have practi- 
cally brought widely separated communities and nations 
close together, thus enabling them to trade more easily and 
rapidly, and thus giving additional impulse to the constantly 
swelling volume of business; consider that the protection 
afforded by quarantine and improved scientific sanitation 
against the spread of infectious or contagious diseases, and the 
longer intervals between great wars resulting from the spread of 
humane. Christian thought, have practically fixed the enor- 
mous annual increase of population in this and other countries 
as permanent wealth producers in the world's industrial system, 
thus guaranteeing a steady, rapid and unbroken growth in pro- 
duction and trade; consider that by almost universal consent 
the supply of gold for monetary use is not likely (to use Prof. 
Taussig's language) to increase rapidly in the future; that the 
" use of gold in the arts is apparently increasing and is likely 
to continue to hicrease and that it absorl^s a growing part of 



216 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT, 

the annual supply," and consider finally that the highest 
authority concedes the necessity of a steady increase in the 
circulating medium to meet the demands of the rapidly increas- 
ing wealth and population and the constantly enlarging vol- 
ume of trade. 

Consider all this, and then endeavor to compass the awful 
significance and the possible effects of this world-wide move- 
ment to limit the world's primary money to gold alone, to turn 
over all this gold to a few people inspired and actuated only by 
the desire of gain, and give them in perpetuity a monopoly of 
the busines of furnishing money to the balance of the popula- 
tion of the globe ! The absolute atrocity of such, a scheme, the 
depth of poverty and distress and the utter enslavement which 
it promises to millions, even hundreds of millions of human 
creatures, can scarcely be conceived by the average mind ! 

I have shown that the scheme of the gold men does not con- 
template that gold shall ever be circulated ; that it in fact pro- 
poses to drive gold out of circulation. In this the system can- 
not be an improvement upon the proposal of silver men to open 
the mints to the free coinage of silver. For if free silver will 
drive gold out of circulation (assuming it to be in fact in circu- 
lation) the country will no more have the benefit of gold circu- 
lation, if by Mr. Carlisle's system the gold is locked up in the 
vaults of the banks. In fact, however, gold is not in circula- 
tion at this time, the Treasury reports to the contrary notwith- 
standing. The Dallas News a few days ago published a state- 
ment of Mr Kilpatrick, sub- treasurer of the United States at 
New Orleans, which purported, among other things, to give the 
"gold and silver coins" in circulation on August 1 of the 
present year. The gold circulation is put by this statement at 
$485,778,610, and the silver circulation at $51,746,706. One 
might well ask where all of this gold is circulating. I shall 
not risk anything if I say that it is not doing money duty 
among the masses. In Texas, at least, it rarely shows itself in 
actual transactions, while silver is apparently doing full duty, 
entering into almost every business transaction where money 
is used at all. If, therefore, silver is in such common use, and 
gold so rarely employed in actual transactions, seemingly a 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 217 

little less than $52,000,000 of silver is doing more effective 
work as a circulating medium than $485,000,000 of gold. The 
truth is, gold is now hoarded— piled up largely in the vaults of 
the banks— in anticipation of the success of the present gold 
propaganda. He who has gold in his clutches, when the 
Cleveland-Carlisle financial policy is enacted into law, will find 
himself equipped with power to gather spoils from labor ,and 
put the burdens of slavery on the backs of toiling men. Bear 
this in mind; gold has practically already disappeared from the 
channels of trade; it cannot, therefore, be driven out by silver; 
but silver and other forms of currency are needed to take its 
place, and ultimately force it back into circulation, or drive it 
out permanently to the peace, prosperity and happiness of all 
honest, patriotic citizens. 

But the scheme under discussion involves the continuance of 
the national banking system, with all the perils to the country 
which arise out of it. The experience of recent years has 
shown quite plainly that the bank classes are solidly welded 
together in the fixed determination to control the financial and 
currency legislation of the country. To do this they must nec- 
essarily act in unity, and this is effected by means of their 
national and state associations. It is folly to deny this. 
There are, indeed, individual bankers who dissent from the 
views of the majority of this class of citizens, but they exer- 
cise no influence whatever. Even the great banker St. John, 
who stands for popular rights on the great question of the coin- 
age, and whose views are the result of years of philosophical 
and scientific study, is powerless to check, in the faintest 
degree, the movement, which the combined and organized 
plutocracy has set on foot in this country to force upon the 
government this stupendous scheme of spoliation and wrong. 
Backed as these people are by any amount of money, by the 
metropolitan press, by the shrewdest politicians and the ablest 
lawyers in the country, the amount of political influence they 
can bring to bear in effectuating their purpose must be seen to 
be perilous in the extreme to our free institutions. The fact 
that individual bankers are honest, upright gentlemen, 
is of small account. As a class they are inspired l)y the 



218 THE LIP'K WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

single selfish purpose of gain. Put them in control of the gov- 
ernment and no man can measure the unhappy effects upon the 
masses of the people, which the policy they boldly advocate 
must inevitable bring about. 

There is but one remedy. As Mr. Jefferson said with refer- 
ence to banks of issue, ' ' Carthago delenda est. ' ' The national 
banking system, like Carthage of old, must be destroyed, and 
the national government must no longer be permitted to farm 
out its credit to corporations to be used for private gain. In 
the monetary policy of the government we must demand equal 
rights for all, special privileges for none — a principle wholly 
ignored by the scheme of the gold man. 

Mr. Carlisle and those who echo his views, are fond of 
pointing out the fact that in all silver standard countries wages 
are lower than those which prevail in gold standard countries. 
And yet they cite the fact that with the former the per capita 
circulation is small, and insignificant in comparison with 
that of gold standard countries. Is it possible to believe, that 
the mere substance upon which the money function is impressed 
produces this difference in the wages of labor ? Does not every 
sane man know that a scant circulation and low prices go hand 
in hand ? This is the teaching of political economists with- 
out exception. Here let me call attention to the central 
truth in monetary science, as stated in the language of Senator 
John P. Jones, viz: " The value of the unit of money in any 
country is determined by the number of units in circulation. In 
other words the value of every dollar depends on the number of 
dollars out. The greater the number of dollars out, other 
things being equal, the less will be the value of each dollar; 
the fewer the number out, other things remaining the same, the 
greater the value of each; and, this without any regard what- 
ever to the material of which the dollars are composed. 

"It is from this evident principle that political economists 
deduce the universal rule, that the prices of property and com- 
modities are derermined in any country by the number of units 
constituting its monetary circulation — that is, by its volume of 
circulation." 

There are local conditions, it is true, affecting the operation 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



219 



of this universal law, which give it greater or less effect, but 
the truth is, nevertheless, universal and without exception. 
Ricardo, an accepted authority, says, "The value of money in 
any country is determined by the amount existing. That 
commodities would rise or fall in price in proportion to the in- 
crease or diminution of money, I assume as a fact that is 
incontrovertible." The same doctrine is taught by John 
Stuart Mill, Locke, Hume, Prof. Jevons and others. Prof. 
Jevons says: " There is plenty of evidence to prove that an 
inconvertible paper money, if carefully limited in quantity, can 
retain its full value;" and Ricardo himself says: "A well 
regulated paper currency is so great an improvement in com- 
merce that I would greatly regret if prejudice should induce 
us to return to a system of less utility," and again this great 
authority says "on these principles it will be seen that it is not 
necessary that paper money shall be payable in specie to secure 
its value; it is only necessary that its quantity should be regu- 
lated according to the value of the metal which is declared to 
be the standard." Prof. Perry, .speaking of the irredeemable 
paper notes issued by the bank of England in 1797, says, 
' ' cautiously issued at first, bank paper continued at par for 
several years after its suspension, which proves that when the 
government possesses the monopoly of issuing paper money, 
and carefully limits its quantity, and both receives and pays it 
out at par, it may keep an inconvertible paper at par, or even 
by sufficiently limiting its quantity, carry it above par. ' ' Now, 
ill view of the undoubted principle that the value of money is 
in proportion to the volimieof it in circulation, does it not seem 
incontrovertible that the small per capita circulation, in silver 
countries largely accounts for the scant wages paid to labor ? ' ' 
Does any one imagine that, if gold were substituted for silver 
in those countries, dollar for dollar, leaving the quantity of 
money the same, any better wages would be paid for labor? 
If so, the condition of the laboring man in Turkey ought to be 
a happy one as compared with that of the laborer in any silver 

country. 

The truth is, the small per capita circulation and other bad 
economic conditions in those countries, conspire to reduce the 



220 TITR I.IFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

wages of labor to the level of a bare living. Mexico, in pro- 
portion to the products of labor to be exchanged, has probably 
as large a circulation as we have, but when measured by her 
population, the circulation is scant. There, however, the 
almost unprecedented uionopolj^ of land has produced an enorm- 
ous amount of enforced idleness. Single individuals own 
millions of acres of land, which are held together out of use; 
and while, therefore, Mexico's abundant silver circulation — 
abundant as compared with the products of labor to be 
exchanged — has enabled actual producers of wealth there to 
prosper in a very marked degree, while the labor market, in 
consequence of the execrable land system prevailing there, is 
overstocked, and, as a consequence, labor is cheap. If labor 
cannot have access to land, it has no alternative l)ut to accept 
whatever dole employers may see fit to give. 

There is not a singlesilvercountry where the same pernicious 
land system does not prevail to a greater or less extent, and 
where consequently, labor, barred off from the use of land, is 
not compelled to accept wages forced below the alread}^ low 
level to which a dwindled circulation has driven them. The 
gold countries themselves until comparatively recent date, with 
the exception of England, had the system of free coinage of 
both metals. At times some of them had the single silver 
standard, and yet the history of the years ante-dating the 
adoption by them of the gold standard, gives us no reason to 
believe that their progress was retarded by the kind of metallic 
money in use among them. There may have been fluctuations 
in production, stringencies, etc., but the production of wealth 
has steadily proceeded, as it has with us since the organization 
of our government, though not in the same degree, whether 
gold and silver, or one of these metals constituted the base of 
circulation. But in all of the gold countries, including ours, 
progress has been at the expense of the toiling millions, the 
fruits of who.'^e labors have for all the years been falling into 
the laps of the favored few. False systems of government, 
local exactions of various kinds, excessive taxation levies on 
the products of labor, land monopoly, rendering the soil inac- 
cessible to labor, depletion of the ranks of producers by mili- 



THE I.IFK WORK OP THOMAvS L. NUGKNT. 221 

tary service, scant money supplies; all of these have conspired 
to depress the laboring classes, to produce enforced idleness and 
low wages. There are other factors, also, which I have not 
s])ace to mention. Still in all of these gold countries, with all 
of their bad conditions, the facts are significant, that the money 
supply per capita, though too small, is much greater than in 
silver countries, and the wages of labor proportionately higher. 
Thus we see, that wherever we find the per capita circulation 
low, wages are low, and that in countries where the per capita 
circulation is larger, wages are relatively higher. Coming to 
this country, the conditions are not so bad as elsewhere, though 
they are bad enough. Until recent years, our cheap lands 
afforded an outlet for our surplus population, and comparative 
contentment and a fair degree of prosperity prevailed among 
our laboring people. But both land monopoly and a dwind- 
ling circulation — dwindling both absolutely and relatively as 
compared with the increasing population and business of the 
country, have, together with other evil factors, reduced prices 
and wages, and brought about general depression and stagna- 
tion. Yet, here we may note the fact, that just as our per capita 
circulation (though greatly insufiicient) exceeds that of all 
other gold countries, except France, so do the wages here 
exceed those paid to labor in those countries. So wherever we 
go, the wages of labor seem to run parallel in a considerable 
measure with the quantity of money in circulation, both rising 
and falling together. 

Our population is spread over an immense, fertile territory, 
and notwithstanding the artificial scarcity of land produced by 
excessive holdings for speculative purposes, — they find access 
to it in some form, though to a constantly diminishing extent, 
as proprietors. So that, although distress and poverty exist in 
the dense centers of population in most aggravated and alarm 
ing forms, and in somewhat milder forms elsewhere, we present 
to people of other countries a seeming of general prosperity. 
Yet even here, as the general aggregate wealth of the nation 
increases, so the hungry mouths and ill clad bodies increase, so 
grow upon us poverty, insanity and crime. We are erecting, 
apparently, a splendid civilization, and yet its heart is being 



222 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

eaten out by the insatiate spirit of greed. The monster who 
stands over that civilization, ready in the very exhilaration of 
baleful success to suffocate and destroy it, is Shylock. Usury, 
land monopoly, these two stand before the growing public 
intelligence as the twin criminals of all the ages. They are 
responsible for all the want and miser}^, that mortal man or 
woman or child has suffered; their buried victims of bygone 
centuries in ghastly throngs rise up to condemn them, and as 
the sun of truth mounts to heaven, they must get themselves 
in readiness for the sure destruction which awaits them. 

But, it is said that the laboring man's dollar will buy more 
than at any time in our history, and that this is due to the 
policy which has put us upon the gold standard. Why, then, 
are so many men struggling for the same dollar ? Why the 
Pullman strike of last year, the outpourings of thousands 
of penniless working men, the marshaling of military 
forces, the declaration of martial law, the unseemly haste in 
resorting to courts for injunctions against the striking laborers, 
the quick condemnation and imprisonment of Debs, the labor 
leader? Why all these labor organizations — these combina- 
tio!is formed to keep up wages ? Why does discontent perv^ade 
the ranks of laboring men throughout the whole countr}- ? If 
wages are high, if a dollar will buy more of the products of 
labor than ever l^efore, and if this increased purchasing power 
of the dollar is such an inestimable boon to the laboring man, 
then surely men who work for wages ought to be contented 
and happy and prosperous. But on the contrary, the laboring 
classes live constantly under the apprehension both of wage re- 
duction and the loss of jobs. The high wages paid skilled 
workmen in certain lines of production afford no test of the 
situation. 

It is the fact, rather, that there are millions of laborers 
skilled and unskilled, who get no jobs and hence no wages at. 
all. No financial or economic system can be good which toler- 
ates such conditions of idleness and poverty as prevail in this 
country. The demand which labor makes is, not that it be fed 
by the charity of government or individuals, but that it be 
given fair opportunities to exert itself; that social and economic 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 223 

conditions be so adjusted that every laboring man will find, not 
a job artificial!}- created for him by a makeshift of legislation, 
but employment freely coming to him from the liberated, en- 
larged and rivivified productive forces— coming to him in fact 
under such beneficent changes in our laws and public policies 
that he can hold in his firm and honest grasp all of the fruits 
of his labor. But again, an honest dollar that would bring 
benefits and blessings to the laboring man ought equally to 
benefit all other classes. Labor in its various forms produces 
the nation's wealth. This is the ultimate truth. The exchange 
of this wealth constitutes all of the diversified business of the 
country. The vast throng of busy thousands who produce this 
wealth also in large measure consume it. If they are now in 
possession of an ample supply of sound money, they must 
exchange it for this wealth. 

How is it, then, that all men of all classes complain of hard 
times, and chiefly of the difficulty of obtaining money with which 
to gratify their wants or carry on business ? Why is it that so 
much of this wealth cannot be exchanged at all ? Why, to 
specialize a little, does the farmer find it so difficult to sell his 
horse, his corn, his hogs, his crops, in fact, any part of his 
personal property except at ruinously low prices ? Why is it, 
when property enters into competition with money, it inevitably 
goes to the wall ? Why is it that the money owner does not 
care to buy property and cannot be induced to invest his money 
in productive enterprises ? Is it not that money is enormously 
valuable as compared with property and commodities? x\nd, 
as money has value in proportion to the quantity of it out, do 
not such conditions show beyond question that the monetary 
circulation is insufficient, and that the dollar which buys so 
much of the products of labor, is dwarfing and stinting trade 
and preventing the free and rapid exchange of commodities ? 
To my mind every day's observation makes this clear. The 
country' is suffering very largely from a money famine; and to 
restrict the actual circulation to an amount v.'hich can be safely 
floated on a gold basis will bring no relief whatever, except to 
the bankers. Meanwhile gold is going up in value constantly, 
and the great trading nations of the earth are ever in a mad 



224 THE IJFR WORK OP THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 

Struggle to get or retain it. I know it is said in some quarters 
that gold lias not appreciated, and that the decline in prices has 
not been due to the discontinuance of silver coinage, but a little 
reflection will show that this contention cannot stand the test 
of reason. The value of gold must depend upon the same law 
of supply and demand which regulates that of every other com- 
modity. Prior to 1871 the world, with the exception of Eng- 
land, was coining and using silver without limit as one of its 
co-equal money metals. Thus silver and gold were, without 
restriction, in active and almost universal use as money — silver 
more widely than gold. Germany demonetized silver in 1871; 
the United States followed her in 1873; and- then the Latin 
Union in 1874 and 1S7G closed their mints to silver, and about 
two years ago Austria-Hungary went upon the gold standard. 
Thus since 1871 all the great trading nations, including the 
United States, have, one after another, ceased coining silver, 
and are to-day practically on the gold standard. The demand 
for gold has therefore been enormously increased within the 
past quarter of a century, and logically the value of gold must 
have also proportionately increased. When we consider that 
the supply of gold is practically stationary, the correctness of 
this conclusion cannot admit of question. 

Mr. Giffen, statistician to the London board of trade, said 
in 1879, in a paper read before the statistical society of Lon- 
don: "There is a general agreement that during the last few 
)'ears there has been a heavy fall in prices. When we .see so 
many failures as are now declared, we may be sure that they 
are preceded and accompanied by a heavy fall in prices." 
Again, in the same paper he said: '"It is a moderate calcula- 
tion that if only the countries which used gold in 1848, includ- 
ing their colonies, were now using it, the requirements (of gold 
he means) to correspond with the increased population and 
wealth, would be at least three times what they were, assuming 
prices to remain in equilibrium;" but he says, "while during 
the last thirty years the annual yield of gold has been falling 
off from its first superabundance, the current demands for the 
metal (gold) have certainly been growing with marvelous 
rapidity. ' ' Then speaking of the extraordinary demands made 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 225 

by the addition of Germany and the United States to the list of 
gold standard countries, and the practical inclusion of France 
in the same list, he says of these new demands: "They have 
been supplied very largely by a continued pressure upon exist- 
ing stocks till an adjustment has at length been inade by aeon- 
traction of trade and fall in values." Again, speaking of the 
demands for gold caused by an increase of population and 
wealth, Mr. Giffen says in the same paper: "Not only must 
the requirements of gold using countries be increased by 50 per 
cent to allow for the natural increment of population, but 
another 50 per cent must be added for the greater wealth per 
head." And then discussing the effect of the two causes 
assigned for the general fall in prices since 1873, viz: The 
multiplication of commodities and the diminution of cost of 
production, and the relative scarcity of gold, the same high 
authority declared that he gave "greater weight" to the latter, 
that is, the relative scarcity of gold. In a paper of Mr. Giffen's 
read before the same society in 1888, the following language is 
used: "We can say positively that the recent change from a 
high to a low level of prices is due to a change in money, in 
the nature, or in the direction of absolute contraction." Again, 
speaking of the additions made to the stock of gold: "The 
stock with additions has to do more work, and it has only been 
able to do so because prices have fallen." Then, speaking of 
this insufficiency of gold, he says: The debtors pay more than 
they would otherwise pay, and the creditors receive more. 
Appreciation is a more serious matter for those who have debts 
to pay. It prevents them gaining by the development of indus- 
try as they otherwise would. 

" Mr, Leonard Courtney was a member of the royal commis- 
sion of twelve men appointed in 1886 by the British govern- 
ment to inquire into the reeent changes in the relative values 
of the precious metals. He was one of the six members of the 
commission who maintained that the fall in prices was to be 
attributed to causes affecting commodities. In 1893, having 
changed his views, he declared that there had been a greater 
appreciation of gold, than he had suspected when he signed the 
report of the commission, and he further said : " It is a dream 



226 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

to suppose that gold is stable in value. ... It has under- 
gone considerable appreciation in recent years, and industry 
and commerce have been more hampered by its movement than 
they would have been had silver been our standard. Whether 
the appreciation will be maintained undiminished is uncertain ; 
every step taken toward the further demonetization of silver 
must tend to the enhancement of the value of gold." lam 
indebted to the great speech of Senator John P. Jones, delivered 
in the United States Senate at the special session of 1893, for 
what I have said with reference to the views of Mr. Giffen and 
Mr. Courtney. 

He who desires other evidence on the subject under discus- 
sion will do well to consult that speech. He will find the sub- 
ject made clear to the exclusion of a rational doubt. The 
decline in prices spoken of by these and other experts is that gen- 
eral decline which has been perceived throughout the world since, 
the demonetization of silver, or since the passage of the act of 1873 
closing the mints of this country to silver. At that time there 
was no metallic circulation in the United States, or practically 
none. We were on a paper basis, and the policy of contraction 
inaugurated by the act of 1866 had started the downward 
movement of prices in this country long before silver was 
demonetized. This downward tendency was doubtless acceler- 
ated by the denial of free mintage to silver, but its terrible 
effects had been felt before that event, and may be read in the 
history of mercantile failures in this country, which in 1866 
amounted in number to 622, involving liabilities aggregating 
$47, 33;}, 000, but which, under the disastrous influence of con- 
traction, increased in 1867 to 2,780 in number, involving liabil- 
ities aggregating $96,666,000, and thereafter annually grew, 
until in 1S73 they reached the enormous number of 5,183, and 
involved liabilities aggregating the sum of $228,499,000. As 
to the more widespread decline of prices resulting from the anti- 
silver movement, the most learned experts practically agree. 
There is no dissent, whatever the cause assigned may be. 

Mr. Morton Frewen, in a speech delivered before the Ameri- 
can Bimetallic League, in Washington city in 1892, after stat- 
ing that he had, when in India, given clo.se study " to the 



THE UFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 227 

effect of the price of silver upon the price of wheat, cotton and 
other produce," declared that he was "justified in stating that 
the price of a bushel of wheat, whether American or Indian, 
in the London market, has been in the past and will be in the 
future, neither more nor less than one ounce of silver." He 
further said in the same speech: "Admitting, then what all 
students of prices do admit, namely that the purchase power 
of the rupee in India is well maintained, the fact that the price 
of wheat and cotton falls with every fall of silver exchanges 
between Europe and Asia is not for a moment open to doubt." 
All the talk of an honest dollar in the face of the accumulated 
testimony bearing upon this question, is seen to be either the 
idle vaporing of superficial politicians or the delusive sophistry 
with which plutocracy seeks to mislead the popular mind. 
From every point of view, this system, to which the national 
administration is so wedded, can only be regarded as one in 
the interest of the people who aspire to control the world '>: 
money supply. To the millions it means slavery. But the 
silver democrats, seemingly more liberal in their financial 
views, propose to adhere to the use of paper money, but they 
want this to be issued by the government without the inter- 
vention of banks, and they want to broaden the base of this 
circulation by adding silver to it. In other words they want 
free coinage of gold and silver at the present ratio, and govern- 
ment treasury notes, or promises to pay, convertible into coin 
(gold and silver). Here is a recognition of the necessity of 
paper money. So far we have no quarrel with the silver demo- 
crats. But their kind of paper money does not suit populists. 
It creates a public debt to be paid off in some way and at some 
time. So long as it exists it will constantly invite attacks from 
the people who now so clamorously assert that the greenbacks 
constitute the weak element in our financial system. The 
money power of this country will not let go its hold upon the 
government so long as the financial legislation of this country 
affords it the opportunity to make gain by the manipulation of 
the public funds or money. So long as government notes 
redeemable in coin are in circulation, they will always find it 
practicable to deplete the national treasury of its coin reserve. 



22<S THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

The fact that they have done so in recent years makes it alto- 
gether certain that they will continue to do so in the future. 
The United States treasury is today dependent upon the 
Rothschild-Morgan syndicate for the preservation of the gold 
reserv^e against the attacks of combinations formed to deplete it. 
When this protection is withdrawn the reserve will go, 
unless, to perpetuate the reign of honest money, Cleveland 
should again purchase a similar immunity by subsidizing the 
Rothschild-Morgan combine. If this is the condition now, what 
will it be if the silver democrats triumph ? The banks and 
syndicates will not stand by them — on the contrary, will hold 
themselves aloof, watching for the opportunity to go in and 
gather the spoils. It is useless to say they cannot do this. 
Experience, if not common sense, warns us that they can. 
They will not let go so long as convertible paper exists to induce 
speculative raids on the metalic reser\^es, or invite efforts in 
favor of some funding schemes from which they may gain profit. 
But if this menace to the public funds should not exist, where 
will the government get its supply of gold and silver to serve as 
the base for its own credit money ? It can only get it from its 
own revenues or by issuing coin bonds. Our silver democratic 
friends, equally with populists, scout the idea of selling bonds 
in time of peace. They must, therefore, depend upon such 
coin as may be derived from the current revenues. This, as 
may be easily seen, will afford but a meager sum — an insufficient 
" base " upon which to supply 70,000,000 of people with a cir- 
culating medium. Confessedl}-, this scheme must be kept within 
the limits of safe banking, and, therefore, the supply of treasury 
notes must be limited to a sum greatly below the wants of the 
country. If, however, it be supposed that the government can 
with impunity extend its credit beyond the limits of safe bank- 
ing and therefore issue its notes to any amount, the answer is, 
money-getters care as little for the government as for individ- 
uals; they understand that as the volume of credit paper ex- 
pands, the facilities for making raids upon the coin base will 
proportionately increase, and they will not be slow to avail 
themselves of such favorable opportunities for gain at the 
expense of the public funds. This will become clear when we 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 229 

reflect, that it is not proposed to put us on a paper basis, but to 
maintain specie payments. During the greenback period just 
after the war, specie payments were suspended, and there was 
no coin in circulation. As long as this condition continued, 
greenbacks circulated freely, and there was no fear of a corner 
on a redemption fund. Only since the resumption of specie 
payment, under the act of 1875, have withdrawals of gold from 
the treasury- been possible by means of the control of govern- 
ment paper. This paper being payable on demand, how will 
the silver democrats be able to hold their silver and gold re- 
serves intact, if they attempt to float an enormously dispropor- 
tionate quantity of convertible notes? With a volume of 
credit money out of all just proportion to the metallic base, 
withdrawals of coin will become all the more easy, and the 
difficulty of maintaining the volume of paper circulation must 
be greatly enhanced. The fact is, that the small reserve of coin 
must either restrict the paper issues below the wants of trade, 
or imperil those issues if enlarged sufficiently to afford a just 
supply of circulation to the countr>\ There is in fact no com- 
promise between the paper system of the gold men and that of 
the populists. Populists favor the free and unlimited coinage 
of gold and silver at the present ratio, and the emission of in- 
convertible paper to supply any lack of circulation, thus to 
make the entire volume of money sufficient to supply the de- 
mands of trade. We cannot compromise on the perilous plan 
proposed by silver democrats. 

What is money ? Certainly not gold, not silver, not paper, 
not any mere material substance. 

The act of 18V)2 declares, "The money of account shall be 
expressed in dollars or units, dimes or tenths, cents or hun- 
dredths, and mills or thousandths; a dime being a tenth part of 
a dollar, a cent the hundredth part of a dollar, a mill the thous- 
andth part of a dollar; and that all accounts in thepubHc offices 
and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be 
kept and had in conformity with this regulation. " " The 
money of account," is it substance— commodity ? No, assur- 
edly not, but, as the act declared, it is "expressed" in mul- 
tiples and subdivisions of the coinage unit — thus in different 



230 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS I^. NUGENT. 

forms, of metallic sulDStances selected and approved by the gov- 
ernment as those best suited to certify the law's decree. Money 
is therefore law, function, thus a conception of the mind, pos- 
sessing neither physical form nor material properties. The 
forms of substance by which it is expressed are mere symbols 
or representatives by which the law authenticates it to the 
popular apprehension — pli>sical counters by which it is made, 
so to speak, tangible to the senses. If substance is money, 
and not law, why is it that money substances vary so greatly 
among different nations ? There is no natural law that deter- 
mines what substance shall be used to express the money func- 
tion. It is only when the law speaks, that substance is enabled 
to do duty in representing the scientific conception of money, 
and in making that conception serviceable among the people in 
affecting the exchanges of practical life. A sells his horse to 
B for fifty gold dollars. We call this an exchange of money 
for property, not barter or direct swapping of property for 
property. Now, has A in this transaction sought to obtain 
gold ? No, he has no use for gold. If he sought to obtain 
gold because of some use he desired to put the metal to, he 
would have gone injto the market and purchased gold bullion. 
Or, if in the transaction stated he had sought to obtain gold 
metal and not dollars — in other words, if he had swapped his 
horse for the bullion in the dollars— then the transaction would 
have been barter pure and simple. And if all transactions 
involving the use of gold money were put upon the same foot- 
ing — that is, if they all involved the mere bartering of property 
for gold bullion— then the alloy in gold coin would soon prove 
a serious hindrance to trade, and the coins would soon disap- 
pear to give place to pure bullion. But, fortunately the idea of 
bartering is excluded. What the man wants who sells his 
horse is dollars, not gold. Thus, whether people realize it not, 
money substances merely enable the trading world to make 
practically av^ailable the scientific conception of money, notwith- 
standing the disturbances which the commercial values of those 
substances may from time to time occasion. 

Now, populists believe that paper notes, in proper quanti- 
ties, will give just as full authentication and power to the money 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 231 

function as any other physical substance; and believing, with 
all other parties, that paper money is demanded by our high 
order of civilization, and, believing further, with Mr. Calhoun, 
that promises to pay are not appropriate forms of currency for 
the use of the government in affording to the people a medium 
of exchange, they demand that silver and gold should be 
admitted to free and unlimited mintage at the existing ratio, 
and that irredeemable, inconvertible notes should be issued by 
the government in quantities suflficient to supply the demands of 
trade Thus, they propose to put it out of the power of money 
combinations to make corners on the public funds, and to abso- 
lutely divorce the government from the banks by repealing the 
national bank act. Thus it appears, therefore, that there are 
three financial schemes competing for public favor, and we 
confidently submit our plan as the only one of the three involv- 
ing the application of the real scientific theory of money. But 
the silver democrats claim, most vociferously, that the demo- 
cratic party is entitled to the honor of originating the question 
of the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the rate of 16 to 1. 
Now, although the democratic party before the war constantly 
declared against a national bank, none of its platforms ever 
made any declaration whatever on the question of free coinage 
for the sufficient reason, that no such issue ever arose 
until the passage of the act of 1873. In 1868 no coinage ques- 
tion appeared in its national platform, although the party 
declared for "one currency for the government and the people, 
the laborer and the office-holder, the pensioner and the soldier, 
the producer and the bondholder." In 1872 its platform 
declared in favor of a "speedy return to specie payments;" in 
1876, the platform upon which Tilden was nominated denounced 
the republicans for not having paid off the greenbacks, which 
it declared to be a "changing standard of values," and the 
non-payment of which it denounced as a "disregard of the 
plighted faith of the nation;" the platform of 1880 declared for 
"honest money, consi-sting of gold and silver and paper, con- 
vertible into coin on demand," but contained not a single refer- 
ence of any kind to the question of free coinage, although in 
the interval between 1876 and 1880 the silver agitation, con- 



232 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

fined to no part}', had led to the enactment of the very bad 
Bland- Allison act; in 1884, the platform upon which Mr. 
Cleveland was first elected, contained only this declaration on 
the money question: "We believe in honest money, the gold 
and silver coinage of the constitution, and a circulating medium 
convertible into such money without loss'' — a declaration 
which, as it accords with the sound money notions of Mr. 
Cleveland and his secretar)- of the treasury', must be altogether 
satisfactory to my friend, Judge Clark. In 1888 Mr. Cleveland 
ran again, and was defeated on a platform which contained no 
reference to the money question, the free silver question, which 
had vexed the country for so many j'ears, being entirely 
ignored; in 1892, again nominating Mr. Cleveland, the well 
known, pronounced enemj^ of free silver, the party formulated 
its views on the money question in the following language: 
' 'We hold to the use of both gold and silver as the standard 
money of the country, and to the coinage of both gold and 
silver without discriminating against either metal or charge for 
mintage, but the dollar unit of coinage of both metals must be 
of equal intrinsic and exchangeable value, or be adjusted 
through international agreement, or by such safeguards of 
legislation as shall insure the maintenance of the parity of the 
two metals and the equal power of every dollar at all times in 
the markets and in the payment of debts; and we demand that 
all paper currency shall be kept at par with and redeemable in 
such coin." This declaration may not be written in the 
choicest of English, but only the man, from whose mind par- 
tisan zeal has driven all fairness, can fail to see that it imposes 
conditions on the equal coinage of silver which could not be 
realized. 

These conditions were, first, that the ' ' dollar unit of coinage 
of both metals must be of equal intrinsic or exchangeable 
value. ' ' With the world wide discrimination against silver, 
how could its ' ' intrinsic and exchangeable value' ' ever be 
expected to overtake that of gold? Second, the dollar unit 
of coinage of both metals " must be adjusted through inter- 
national agreement," or third, " by safeguards oflegislation." 
Our silver friends concede the utter folly of international agree- 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 233 

raent, but they have not pointed out the safeguards of legis- 
lation. Let it be noted that the declaration did not provide 
for unqualified free coinage, but for free coinage whenever the 
silver dollar should overtake the gold dollar in the commercial 
value of its silver metal, or whenever international agreement 
could be effected, or whenever safeguards could be devised by 
which to maintain the paritj' of the two metals. It is too plain 
for controversy that the convention did not contemplate that a 
free coinage law would itself provide these conditions, but that 
equal mintage might be given to both metals whenever one or 
more of these conditions could be otherwise brought about. It 
is a singular fact that while some of our free silver leaders 
affect to believe that the democratic party has always been for 
free silver, the republicans in their platform of 1888 denounced 
the administration of Mr. Cleveland for its ' ' effort to demone- 
tize silver." Yet, in that year the democrats remominated 
Cleveland in spite of his hostilit}" to silver, and again in 1892 
nominated and elected him. The plain truth is the democratic 
party, by every rule which can be applied to party action is 
responsible for Mr. Cleveland. He is, in fact, the consummate 
product of democratic policies — policies maintained with per- 
sistency by organized party action since the war. Mr. Cleve- 
land's administration has given to the countrj^ the fullest pos- 
sible construction of the platform of 1892, by forcing the repeal 
of the purchasing clause of the Sherman law, thus furnishing 
safeguards of legislation by closing the mints to silver, as he 
has alwa\"s maintained must be done to prevent the two metals 
from parting company and to preserve their parit3^ The 
endorsement of the Chicago platform of 1892 by the democra- 
tic convention of Texas last year, effected after a sharp con- 
flict between the two wings of the party, affords, with its 
incidents, indubitable evidence that the views here expressed 
are correct. Judge Reagan refused to run on the platform, 
because, as he frankly declared, it did not accord with his silver 
views, and although other silver leaders have attempted to con- 
strue it in harmony with the demand for free silver, it is safe 
to say, that the intelligent masses will not accept such con- 
struction : but will argue this question further. Did not the 



234 THR LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

Bland bill, by authorizing the making of contracts stipulating 
for payments in gold, pave the way for the flooding of the 
country with gold obligations, thus laying burdens upon the 
people from which they will not be able to rid themselves 
probably for years to come? Did not a Texas legislature, over- 
whelmingly democratic, refuse to pass an act to prohibit the 
making of such contracts? Did not the same legislature 
refuse to condemn Col. Mills for voting with the gold men? 
But in 1888, when the democratic platform contained no expres- 
sion on the subject of free coinage, and when the republicans 
were denouncing Mr. Cleveland's administration because of its 
efforts to demonetize silver, the union labor party declared, 
' ' That while we have free coinage of gold, we should have 
free coinage of silver," and afterwards, in 1892, when the 
democracy put forth its famous silver declaration, the intric- 
acy and doubtful construction of which have been to the party 
a ceaseless torment ever since, the people's party said in their 
platform: "We demand the free and unlimited coinage of .silver 
and gold at the present ratio of IBtol." When all of these 
platform declarations are considered it will not be difficult to 
determine what party is entitled to the honor of first putting 
forth the demand for free coinage at the existing ratio. 

But I would be false to myself and the cause I represent 
to-day if I did not warn my populist friends that monetary 
reform, however sorely needed, will not bring the lasting and 
full relief which the country needs. It may lead to the pro- 
duction of wealth, but it will not afford the economic conditions 
necessary to the equitable distribution of wealth. It will bring 
increased prices for farm products, but it will greatly enhance 
the value of land and place land still further beyond the reach 
of labor. Kven in our present distress we see land values get- 
ting beyond the reach of the laboring man. The .scant money 
supply makes everything cheap but land. Population is ever 
growing — land cannot grow, except in value. The presence of 
population makes constantly increasing land values. The 
morrow always brings increased demand for land, because of 
the growing population, but alas! the land itself remains fixed 
in amount. There is no more of it now than when the world 



THE I.IFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUCxRNT. 235 

first commenced revolving in space. As population encroaches 
upon the land supply more and more the tenant class increases, 
and more and more enforced idleness prevails. Yet, we say in 
our meetings, all wealth is produced by labor applied to land. 
Labor must have land or perish! But where will it get it? 
Speculative holdings have already produced an artificial scarcity 
of land in Texas, where unnumbered thousands of acres are 
out of use. Must this condition remain indefinitely? Must the 
sons and daughters of the honest toilers of Texas, in the next 
generation, because of enormous speculative land values, become 
only the wage servants of the more favored classes? Brother 
Populists, look into this land question, for be assured that 
when settled on right lines it will forever solve the question of 
the equitable distribution of wealth. Even Judge Clarke 
shows that since 1834 the aggregate wealth of the nation has 
been constantly increasing, notwithstanding, as he claims, the 
prevalence of the gold standard. He might have gone back 
to the beginning of the century and shown the same thing. 

The aggregate wealth has increased, and will continue to 
increase, however small the compensation labor is permitted to 
receive. Reduce it to a bare living, and compel it to serve in 
rags and filth, and it will still produce wealth rather than 
starve. The rags and filth will not cast a shadow on the 
beautiful creations of industry, even though they come fresh 
from the hovels of poverty to minister to the taste and com- 
fort of those who " neither toil nor spin." The structure 
of wealth must still rise, even if the prostrate and tortured 
form of labor lies beneath its gilded foundation. It is not 
that the world grows more wealthy as the years pass, which 
gives labor its cause of complaint — it is rather the fact, that 
labor can only, under its present conditions, have such a por- 
tion of that which it creates as suffices to forever keep it 
dependent and enslaved — that, in fact, it must sit like L,azarus 
beneath the tables of the world's robbers, to pick up the 
crumbs and have the sores upon its body licked by the dogs. 
There is wealth enough and to spare, but it goes to the pampered 
few. Let us not forget that the millimis of toilers are in more 
pressing need of remedy that shall prevent the unju.st concentra- 



2.'>G THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

tion of wealth, than they are for one which only can insure 
the increased production of wealth. Thus only can conditions 
be so changed, that labor may live in contentment and peace, 
reaping that which it sows, dwelling beneath its own self- 
provided shelter, and enjoying evermore the sweetness of inde- 
pendence. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS 1,. NUGENT. 237 



JUDGE NUGENT AT STEPHENVILLE. 



STANDS FLAT-FOOTED UPON THE ST. LOUIS PLATFORM^ 



"It.'s Sneaking and Mean to go About Democratic Primaries" — Going to 
Smash Both Hogg and Mills. 



StephEnville, Texas, June 11, 1892. 

The expected has happened. The crowd is here. They 
came early, have worked and talked all day and are still at it. 
It is the People's party's big day, and there are not only all 
the old-time kickers against the Democracy, but with them 
hundreds of recruits in the persons of old, live Democrats who 
never flickered before. There are here more voters, it is said, 
than at Clark's or Hogg's reception, and not only the speakers 
but all the hosts talk and act with the zeal that incites and 
makes possible reformations or wars. 

At 11 o'clock, at the opera house, Chairman King introduced 
Judge Nugent, who said, succinctly : 

There have been two immortal declarations made by the 
people of this country. The one the declaration of independence 
made in 1776, the other the St. Louis declaration made Febru- 
ary 22, 1892. The one asserted the right of self government 
by the people and the independence of kings, the other asserts 
the right of industrial labor against monied tyranny, the eman- 
cipation of industrial labor from the thralldom and slavery of a 
government-created plutocracy. The one declared that the 
masses should be free from the rule and tyranny of king or 
kings, the other declared that the industrial masses ought and 



238 THE UFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

shall be free of the rule, tyranny and oppression of the heart- 
less dollar. The St. Louis declaration must he passed upon by 
the freedom-loving people at the next election. The eyes of 
the world are concentrated upon Texas. For years Texans 
have been growing more and more independent of the restraints 
of party rule and party bosses. Kansas broke loose at her last 
election, and her representatives in congress stand at the front 
of independent statesmen to-day. There is nothing in the 
newly-made Republican platform to justify the hope of any 
reform in the interests of the masses. In the South the Demo- 
cracy has been supreme — in it we have centered every hope ; 
to it we have looked, only in vain, all these long years. It was 
proper and right we .should look to it because it was the party 
of our fathers. But it is clearly demonstrable that we cannot 
longer hope for any relief from the Democratic party. The 
fundamental principle of true democracy is enunciated in this 
single maxim : ' ' Equal rights to all, special privileges to none. ' ' 
It was proclaimed by Jefferson, is the substratum of true demo- 
cracy in all ages, and is more clearly enunciated in the St. Louis 
platform than has ever been done before. Modern Democrats 
have quit the paths of the fathers. 

Here are the national platforms of the Democratic fathers from 
1840 to 1856. In those days the masses supported measures, 
not parties, and parties were forced to express and advocate 
some certain, well-defined principles and policies. The Demo- 
cratic platforms in those days declared that " Congress had no 
right to charter national banks; that national banks were in 
deadly hostility to the interests of the people; would grow to be 
above the laws and will of the people," etc. When Jackson 
abolished the United States banks, the business of the country 
continued safe and prosperous. But now it is believed and was 
recently proclaimed by a banker in the convention at Waco, 
' ' that the higher the rate of interest the more prosperous the 
people " — they declare the rate of interest shows the volume of 
business and the degree of business prosperity, and the higher 
the better. Senator Dick Coke said the old banks that Jackson 
fought were puling babies compared with the monster banks 
we have to fight to-day. Up to 1856 Democrats declared flatly 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 239 

against any and every kind of government banks and flatly for 
free seas and free trade with all the world. Since then the party 
has been dodging on every question of great importance to the 
people. The Watterson-Cleveland platform, and even the Lam- 
pasas platform, is a mere juggling with the highest political 
questions. The latter declares for the free coinage of silver and 
then sends Cleveland delegates to the national convention. 
Even Bayard in the Tilden campaign took special pains to deny 
that the Democracy was opposed to national banks and pointed 
to the vice-president candidate, English, whose bank had 
cleared 100 per cent, in fifteen months, and to August Belmont, 
the chief financial agent of the Rothschilds and the chairman of 
the national Democratic executive committee, as proof of the 
Democratic fondness and friendliness to national banks. Clear 
up to the war the Democratic party was against all species of 
class legislation. 

By natural law a man is entitled to all the fruits of his labor 
without dictation or measure from any one, but men must have 
government and the government must be supported. It should 
be supported by every man in proportion to his means and no 
more. When government takes from a man more for its sup- 
port than his share or more from its citizens than is necessary 
to an economically administered government, it becomes a 
robber. The United States government has been a robber for 
100 years. The Republicans have the manhood to say they are 
for protection, but the Democrats favor " reform of the tariff " 
whatever that means. The Democracy of to-day is no more 
democratic than night is day. They have not had the nerve or 
honesty to declare for free silver nor free seas and free trade. 
They have worked for the offices and they got them, but we 
will mix it with them from now on from the presidency down. 
Party politics have degenerated into a mere machine for the 
success of selfish leaders. The question of free silver is all 
important and absorbing. Coke knows it, and all intelligent 
Democrats know it, yet they go on endorsing Cleveland, silver's 
worst enemy. They will nominate him or some other gold bug 
at Chicago and then come down South and bemean me and you 
for fighting for the money of the constitution. The present 



240 THK I.IFR WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 

Democracy, tested by every principle laid down by the fathers, 
guaged by every policy they advocated, judged by all their 
practices and usages, is not true democracy, and no sane, truth- 
ful man will say so. I don't deny the right to the Democratic 
party to advocate and do anything it pleases, but they must 
excuse me from wearing its brand and collar. 

True Democrats want plenty of mone}^ and the widest, freest 
markets the world affords. When a man runs on a platform 
and goes back on the platform as Campbell of Ohio did, he ought 
to be beat. The national Democratic platforms since the war 
have consisted of fine spun platitudes made for politicians to 
juggle with and to bamboozle the people. From free trade 
they have slided down to " incidental protection," to a " tariff 
for revenue only " and are now hammering away on a tariff" 
bill that will give high protection to some classes and no protec- 
tion to other classes. They all show gradual slipping away 
from true Democratic faith. Parties, like the government, 
always steal the people's liberties gradually. 

I voted for Tilden, and then and ever since the people were 
promised that if the Democrats ever got into power, we should 
have free silver, free trade, etc., and j-et the other day a house 
of representatives, overwhelmingly Democratic, failed to vote 
for free silver. The truth is, their record shows that Demo- 
crats, so-called, have ceased to favor plenty of money and free 
trade. They are after getting in. They have no principles 
they will not abandon, no policies they will not yield. They 
are jugglers on platforms, dodgers on national banks, cowards 
on coinage of free silver and trading tricksters on the tariff. 
They have gone back on every platform up to 1856, and since 
then the main purpose of their platforms has been to catch 'em 
"agoing and acoming." Any platform suits these latter day 
Democratic leaders. They take the stump and cry aloud of the 
virtues and beauties of the old Democratic party. They say it 
is 100 years old, and can never die. It is not 100 years old. In 
spirit it died in IS.IG, and it lives to-day only in the name, 
which the latter day Democrats continue to disgrace. They will 
soon flood this district with speakers entreating you to ' 'stay 
with the good old Democratic party." When they come, you 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 241 

gather up their platforms and show them that their beloved 
party is neither good nor old. The democratic party is not 
any longer the friend of the industrial masses on the four great 
political issues in this nation — on transportation, on land, on 
trade and on money. Even with circulation limited to the pro- 
duct of unlimited free coinage of the two metals, there will not 
be any more industrial liberty and independence among the 
masses. Before contraction began and in its early stages, pro- 
ducts of all labor were high. The redundant currency sought 
enterprises. The great northwest was developed. Money 
lenders could not rob the treasury. They had to hunt some- 
thing other than blistering interest for their money to do and 
bring. Labor is the true measure of all values, and when 
invested in crops, must bring fair prices, or lalior does not reap 
its just rewards. The wages of the salaried classes are not 
measured by the price of products. A clerk with $1 ,000 a year 
gets the equal of $2,000 a year, when the prices of his necessaries 
are cut one-half. So he does when the government contracts 
the currency one-half, or when there is only one-half the money 
in circulation. The statistics show that the income of all labor- 
ers have been constantly decreasing under the constant con- 
traction of the currency, and that the incomes of farmers, in 
proportion to investments, have decreased more tlian any other 
class of workers. 

The people's platform is a plain, simple enunciation of true 
democracy. I endorse every line and sentiment of it. It de- 
mands the control of transportation, that the lands should not 
be monopolized by individuals or corporations, that national 
banks must go and that money must be issued direct to the 
people. How this money is to be issued is with us, not only a 
national question, but a state question which must be solved. 
Party democrats lift their eyes in holy horror at the sub-treasury 
scheme while one candidate goes over the state wanting to lend 
the school nione}- on railroad security and Judge Clark wants to 
lend it to the people on land security and the scheme has proven 
an eminent success. We want first to get into our circulation 
all the idle money in our public treasuries and we want a 
sufficiency of it in circulation to meet all the demands of a 



242 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

prosperous trade. In principle the sub-treasury seeks such a 
quantity and flexibility of currency as will prevent a money 
corner on farm products or anything else; sufl&cient to enable 
the farmers to unload their crops without being robbed by the 
money monopolists; to enable them to defy the speculators etc., 
and if this cannot be done without the government becoming a 
money lender and pawnbroker then I say let it be a pawnbroker. 
I want a government that will deal out practical justice to all 
the people — that will secure to them equal and exact political 
and industrial justice. A government that does not do this is 
a failure, and for such a government, the St. Louis platform 
seeks. On state issues I am in thorough accord, I hope, with 
you. I voted for a commission and I am for the law as it now 
stands. But there is danger in the commission — danger of 
doing injustice, danger of setting precedents that wall come 
home to vex and destroy our most cherished interests. This 
thing of turning over to three men one-third of the property in 
this state and allowing them to say to the railroad owners, you 
shall make only so much out of your investments, is a long 
stride in the wrong direction. It is contrary to the spirit of our 
institutions and is fraught with untold danger. The same 
principle would support a policy of placing other business or 
property in the hands or control of a government commission. 
At the very best a commission must be arbitrary, and while we 
cannot and will not submit to oppression by transportation com- 
panies we can not afford to be inconsistent or unjust. We must 
work out all these reforms on the straight line of equal and 
exact justice to all, or else all our labors will be vain and come 
home only to vex and destroy us. 

I see no solution for this great question except that demanded 
by the People's party platform, viz: government ownership of 
all the railroads, I'll never consent to allow any commission 
to rob the railroad companies. I will not consent to a wrong. 
There are thousands of widows, orphans and employes whose 
bread and clothes depend upon the success of the railroads we 
have invited people to build in Texas. Three-fourths of these 
laborers look to-day to the People's party for justice, and they 
are going to vote with you in this great struggle. L,et us do 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 243 

justice to everybody aud to every business. But I want to tell 
you that I don't believe in a railroad commission that is a mere 
sideshow to the governor — a kind of annex to the executive 
department. I don't want a commission that is a tool of any 
governor. I want it absolutely divorced from any administra- 
tion, and, like Judge Clark, I want them to be elected by the 
people and be amenable only to the people. They should be 
beyond the dictation or power of the governor. Judge Clark 
is a noble, able, fearless gentleman, and while I do not agree 
with him exactly as to a commission law, I am with him as to 
an elective commission. If we strive only for exact justice we 
will win. This movement means destruction to plutocracy. 
We may not win in this campaign, but under the providence 
of God we will win. The burden is now heavy, but we must 
be patient and bear it and fight for it, only with logic and the 
ballot. Even down here in the ninth district the old parties 
are frightened nigh unto death. Now, in conclusion, let me 
say to you: Keep away from all and any so-called Democratic 
primaries. Be men and stand up under your own colors. It 
is cowardly, sneaking and mean for you to go about these Dem- 
ocratic primaries. Proclaim your own principles, enunciate 
your own policies, hoist your own colors, nominate your own 
candidates and vote your own ticket. Do this now and keep 
at it and victory is ours 

The Judge was frequently applauded. 



THK 1.1KK WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



JUDGE NUGENT IN ELLIS COUNTY. 

fTh.' Southern Mercury, Aug. 18, 1892.J 

We clip the following report from the " People's paper," the 

Dallas Nac's: 

Judge Nugent spoke in an arbor. His appearance was the 
signarfor universal applause. By simple clapping of hands 
and tapping on the benches he was welcomed. He discussed 
national politics entirely. He took up the democratic platforms 
formulated before the war, which declared for free trade or a 
tariff for revenue only, and the free and unlimited coinage of 
silver. Then he came to the platform adopted by the national 
democratic convention in 1876, at St. Louis when Tilden was 
nominated, which declared for a tariff for revenue only, but said 
nothing about the free coinage of silver. He said he came 
next to Grover Cleveland, whom Mr. Dana called "the stuffed 
prophet," and about the only thing he had been stuffed with 
was tariff reform. The democracy having been beaten in 1880, 
even though that brave soldier Gen. Hancock headed the 
ticket on a reiteration of the tariff plank of 1876, the conven- 
tion of 1884 committed the democratic party for all time to 
come to the policy of raising the revenues of the government 
by tariff taxation. The plank of 1884 irrevocably committed 
the democratic party to incidental protection. It expressly said 
that no interest depending upon legislation for existence should 
suffer at the hands of the democratic party. What else did it 
say? It said that enough revenue must be raised to keep the 
faith of the government with its creditors and pensioners. He 
had thought from what the democratic orators had said, when 
they were going around charging the people's party with want- 
ing to pay to the Union soldiers the difference between the wages 
they received and gold, that the very word pension was an 
abomination to the democratic heart, and yet in the platform 



246 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT, 

it occupied a conspicuous place and the faith of the party was 
pledged to the present system. Still there was not a word of 
free coinage in the Democratic platforms, and thus the party 
had completely receded from the position taken before the war 
and was not a Democratic party any longer, Their platforms, 
instead of expressing the convictions of the party on public 
questions, v^^ere intended merely to catch votes and when that 
end had been accomplished the platform had served its 
purpose well. As to the free coinage of silver, there 
would be no excuse for the attitude of the Democratic party. 
In 1889, when the Democrats had a majority in both branches 
of congress, the house passed the Warner bill and enough 
Democratic senators allied with the Republicans to beat 
the bill. In this congress, when enough Republican senators 
had allied themselves with the Democrats to pass a free coin- 
age bill, a Democratic house has failed of its duty. Twenty- 
nine states in their Democratic platforms last year had 
demanded the free and unlimited coinage of silver, and yet 
the representatives went on to Washington and voted against 
the bill in the interest of Wall street and against the wishes 
of their people. This time they came before the people with a 
declaration on the silver question that meant absolutely nothing. 
If the Democratic party wanted a tariff for revenue only and 
the free coinage of silver, let them nominate a man who was 
the embodiment of both these issues and whose electiom meant 
that those issues would triumph, instead of putting up a man 
who embodied no issue. The Democratic orators in congress were 
sending out as a part of the Con») essional Recoyd'H.Qnry George's 
book on protection and free trade and trying to adopt it as their 
slogan, Init they did not fool the people as easily as that. 
Henry George, who did not write for office but as a states- 
man and a philosopher, pointed out the very dangers that lay 
in the way of adopting a tariff for revenue only. The judge read 
several chapters from Henry George's book to sustain this 
position. The People's party, he said, comes before you with 
a square declaration on all issues. We declare for the free and 
unlimited coinage of silver. We declare that wealth belongs 
to him who creates it. Some people have so misconstrued this 



THE 1.IFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 247 

declaration that they say we want to give all the money to the 
day laborers of the country. 

There are three great factors in the production of wealth — land, 
labor and capital. If you were to go out into a desert with- 
out any money or without any implements you would not be a 
great producer of wealth. If you were to raise a bale of cotton 
and keep it in a room you would have produced no wealth. But 
having grown it and picked it, you carry it to the man who has 
put his land, labor and capital into a gin and he gins it and 
prepares it for market. The People's party platform declares 
that every dollar taken from the man who creates wealth with- 
out an equivalent is robbery. It is just as much robbery as if a 
man were to steal your corn from your crib without giving you 
some equivalent for it. And it is just as much robbery to take 
money from a railroad without giving it some equivalent as it 
is to take your horses when you are asleep. A railroad is a 
great industrial enterprise. It combines all the wealth produc- 
ing factors — land, labor and capital. It is one of the necessities 
of civilization and a benefit to societ^^ The Democratic party 
of Texas invited these railroads to come here. It held up its 
hands and said, we have a great state, an undeveloped state 
and likely to produce enormous tonnage. Come in here and 
help build it up and we will treat you right. The Democratic 
party of Texas even wanted railroads so badly that it went to 
the extent of giving the companies great bodies of the public 
domain in order to induce them to come in and help develop 
the state. These roads were entitled to the same protection 
as the farmer and taking money from them was just as much 
robbery as taking the farmer's money from him. 

Col. Mills, who is a great man in his own estimation, is now 
going about the state saying that the free coinage of silver 
would only increase the circulating medium about $15,000,000 
and would not be any great relief to the people after all. Mr. 
Cleveland's letter of acceptance clearly pitched the lines of the 
campaign upon the tariff and the threat that the Republicans 
would pass a force bill if they got in power, and Mr. Mills is 
assiduously following out that line of political action. Col. 
Mills said the only way to get an equal distribution of wealth 



248 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

was by reduction of tariff taxes. That is a fallacy. Take 
England, where they say they have free trade, and the rich 
are getting richer and the poor poorer all the time, just as they 
are in this country. As to the force bill, the same Republican 
senators who voted against it before are still in the Senate and 
will vote against it again, the People's party are squarely com- 
mitted against it, so the chances of the Republicans getting a 
force bill enacted are very remote. 

Judge Nugent at length went into the question of taxation, 
holding that every man ought to be taxed in proportion to the 
amount of property owned. He also touched lightly upon the 
question of the government ownership of railroads as the only 
solution of the railroad problem, and merely referred to the 
sub-treasury. 

The reception of the speeches was refreshing to one who has 
been nauseated by yelling and howling and the deafening efforts 
of brass bands. There was no big bass drum to beat or cymbals 
to clash w^henever the drummer thought the speaker made a 
hit. There was no jumping - up-and-knocking-your- heels- 
together style of enthusiasm. All the speakers were listened to 
with intense interest. Men and women bent forward eagerly 
to catch every word. Every eye spoke the intense thirst of the 
owner for knowledge, the desire to hear it all. Whenever 
there was applause it was quiet but deep. During Judge 
Nugent' s speech there were frequent utterances, such as, 
" That's so," " Now you are hitting them." Judge Nugent's 
reference to Mr. Mills, quoted above, brought out the heartiest 
applause of the day. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 249 



JUDGE NUGENT ON THE BURNING. 

[Dallas News,] 

Judge Nugent has prepared his views on the recent burning 
of the negro Smith at Paris and the governor's message thereon 
as follows: 

Fort Worth, Texas, Feb. 15. — I am constrained to add 
a word to the comments on the Paris horror which have occu- 
pied of late so large a place in the columns of your excellent 
paper. Looking at the merely human side of the unfortunate 
afFair, no candid mau can fail to admit that almost any commu- 
nity in Texas, or elsewhere, might, under like circumstances, 
have done the same thing. Does this justify the torturing of 
a human creature as an expiation for crime ? Christianity can 
only make one reply to this question. No crime possible to 
human depravity can warrant a resort to refined cruelty in the 
infliction of punishment. If the unbridled human passion or 
the thirst for revenge is to be left free to adapt the mode of 
punishment to the nature of the crime, under the false notion 
that the one must be commensurate with the other, it is easy 
to see that the, foundation of our social and political system 
must soon give way. At the same time, it requires an unusual 
amount of insight to perceive that a community wrought up to 
a pitch of excitement such as that which impelled the Paris 
people, and particularly the relatives of the m.urdered child, are 
scarcely to be regarded as responsible for their acts. Does any 
one believe that the father of little Myrtle Vance was in a 
rational frame of mind when applying the implements of tor- 
ture to Smith's quivering flesh? That a frenzy of grief and 
rage had taken from him the power of self control— indeed had 
bereft him of reason for the time being— I have little doubt. 
How idle, therefore, to think of punishing him, or, indeed, 
those whose intense excitement over the unnatural crime led 



250 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

them to give encouragement to the awful execution. We must 
judge of things as they are, not as we would have them to be. 
So judging, humanity, while condemning the execution with 
its terrible incidents, will not fail to drop tears of pity for the 
father of Myrtle Vance — pity carrying with it unaffected sor- 
row for the conditions that made both crime and execution 
possible. What, it seems to me, is chiefly to be lamented is 
that men at a distance from the place of execution and who 
witnessed none of its sickening details even now justify all 
that was done. This is the ominous fact — the fact fullest of 
peril to society. Next to this in danger to social integrity 
stands the fact that such eminent gentlemen as ex-Senator 
Maxey publicly defend the mode of execution as under all cir- 
cumstances justifiable. Judge Maxey is justly distinguished 
in the political history of the country and is a member of a 
respectable Christian church. His humane disposition would 
not permit him to look upon the unhappy victim writhing amid 
devouring flames — and yet he defends it. That he should do so 
adds confirmation to what I have said as to the abnormal state 
of feeling that prevailed at Paris. Christian people do not 
always remember the scriptural saying: " Vengeance is mine, 
I will repay, saith the Lord." No, we cannot afford to ignore 
Christianity and its chastening, harmonizing influences, in 
passing judgment on such occurrences. Gov. Hogg's message 
was creditable to his humanity. It shows that he is an earnest, 
honest and courageous man, although strangely incautious and 
very often unwise. His recommendations are not to be thought 
of for a moment as proper to be enacted into laws. They are 
extreme, born of the hot impulse of the moment, and essentially 
unwise and unjust. Doubtless his excellency will himself dis- 
approve of them when the horrible picture of the Paris burning 
no longer distorts and obscures his better judgment. Still his 
recommendations will bear fruit and the final remedy will, I 
think, be found not in fierce legal retributions but in wholesome 
methods of prevention. But here open up questions of reform 
in respect to the administration of the laws which I can not 
now venture upon. T. L. Nugent. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 251 



SOUND AND LOGICAL, 



NUGENT BLAZES THE WAY FOR ALL POPULISTS TO TREAD, 



The People's Party is the only Party with Consistent Declarations and Princi'' 
pies on the Money Question. 

[The Southern Mercury, July 18. 1895.] 

There are some good meaning populists who believe that by 
scaling down our platform and confining the campaign of next 
year to the financial issue, our chances of success will be greatly 
increased. Practically the campaign will turn upon the money 
question since the logic of events has forced it to the front; but 
this, as I have endeavored before to show, does not justify the 
pruning process advocated by the parties referred to. Indeed, 
the money question, as understood by the rank and file of the 
people's party, is quite distinct from that advocated by the 
so-called silver or bi-metallic party. With the latter, the free 
and unlimited coinage of silver is the sole vital issue before the 
country; while populists, not underrating the silver question, 
have always contended that full monetary relief can only come 
to the country from a comprehensive financial scheme involv- 
ing: 1st, the abolition of banks of issue altogether, and their 
total divorcement from the general government; 2d, the practi- 
cal recognition and enforcement of the doctrine that the money 
coining and issuing function belongs exclusively to the govern- 
ment; and, that government should, upon some proper plan, 
emit and keep in circulation a sufficient volume of metallic and 
paper money to supply the demands of trade; 3d, that all the 
forms of money so issued should be of equal legal tender 
quality, and that no part of it should consist of convertible. 



252 THE LIFR WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

treasury notes. In other words we insist upon a system of true 
scientific money, maintained permanently by the government 
without dependence upon intermediary agencies of any kind 
whatever. It will be seen that this system necessarily includes 
the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold, the ratio of 
which our platform declares should be sixteen to one. The sil- 
ver people do, indeed, propose that the government shall issue 
legal tender paper currency, but only in the form of credit 
money, — that is in coin. They will not concede our demand 
for inconvertible notes, and if we go to them, we must do so, 
not upon any demand for a comprehensive system of money 
which we believe can alone bring our people permanent relief 
from vicious financial legislation, but upon a demand virtually 
for free coinage alone, which, if obtained, will leave the essen- 
tial money question unsolved. View the suggestions as you 
may, it amounts to this and only this. If carried out, we 
might enable the silver leaders to hold their places, but would 
there be much outcome for the people's party, or the cause of 
reform? We might afford to support Reagan, or Bryan, or 
Stewart, or Jones, or any other one of the silver leaders, if by 
so doing the work of real, lasting reform could be advanced; 
but when by doing so, we must close our eyes to every issue, 
except the single one of silver rehabilitation. 

I, for one, can see only disaster as the outcome of such a 
policy. Populists have advocated free coinage for years. 
While the old parties were dodging the silver issue, trying to 
get on both sides of it, making platforms construed to favor 
gold monometalism in the east, and anything or nothing in the 
south or west, according to the stand-point from which they 
were regarded, the people's party in convention assembled 
made a straight, honest declaration in favor of the free and 
unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the ratio of 16 to 1. 

And now, after all these years of juggling and dredging, dur- 
ing which not a single declaration in favor of the white metal 
ever crept into the old party platforms, the silver leaders step 
to the front and, with suavity and cheek characteristic of the 
trained politician, invite us to enter the democratic party, 
meekly take back seats and listen to tlie old-time eloquence with 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 253 

which we have been for so many years regaled. These periodic 
howls in favor of the white metal have hitherto led to no result, 
for the reason that after the election they always sink into the 
usual democratic monotone — stand by the party. I wonder 
that any number of populists can be moved by the old hypo- 
critical dodge that has broken up and destroyed every reform 
party movement in this country for thirty years past. " Stay 
in the old party. We believe as you do on this question. We 
are for free silver or greenbacks. Come back into the fold." 
Yet some of the very men who tell us this say they will vote 
the ticket even if the platform declares for a gold standard. 
Indeed, did not Judge Reagan, to whom we are in the habit of 
attributing high, patriotic purposes, after declaring that he 
could not honestly run for governor on the last state democratic 
platform, support the entire state ticket nominated on that 
platform? Did he not justify his action by virtually saying 
that anything was preferable to populism ? How, then, can we 
consistently support people who thus prefer even gold mono- 
metalism to the policies advocated by the People's party ? 

Kentucky has set the pace for the next campaign. Her 
approval of Cleveland and the Chicago platform, coupled with 
her nomination of a free silver man for governor, shows what 
can be expected from organized democrats — only betrayal of 
the people in the interests of party success. 

T. ly. Nugent, 

Fort Worth, Texas. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



255 



HON, T, L. NUGENT'S VIEWS. 



A STEONG PAPER ON THE LEADING QUESTIONS OF THE DAY. 



The Gfeenbackers did their Work well, but the Populists have a Greater Work 
before them. Should Labor be Bound or Free ? 

(The Southern Mercury, Jan. 24, 1895.) 

I am glad to see the Mercury is moving ahead on orthodox 
populist lines. It is no time to swap platforms, but rather to 
broaden our vision so as to take in all that is comprehended m 
the declaration of faith made at Omaha in 1892. 

The political elements are now in a state of almost chaotic 
unrest- but the nucleating process has already set in, and goes 
on with unabated intensity and persistence. The tendency to 
draw together upon a common ground of fundamental truth- 
truth already declared in the Omaha platform— is wide-spread 
among reformers. To give it practical force and effect, we need 
only to educate; and to educate, our editors must get upon the 
higher ground of social and humane thought. There ought 
not to be any backwardness in putting the full truth before the 
people. Thomas Jefferson's life was made sublime by the fact 
that he trusted the people, and was never afraid to speak out 
plainly what he thought. We must do likewise. The masses 
are brave and true. Had we their courage and faith, it would 
be better for the cause we represent. If we fear and tremble, 
if chilled by the danger of present defeat, we shrink from the 
fiiu assertion of our convictions of right, and dole out half 
truths to the famishing people, our party record will soon have 
the word failure written all over it. 

The greenbackers, every one of them a hero and a patriot, 
worked out their mission when they demonstrated to popular 



25(5 Tim LIFK WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGKNT. 

apprehension the fallacy of intrinsic value, and planted in the 
people's thought the truth that money is solely a creature 
of law, not the substance, but function impressed upon sub- 
stance by the sovereign decree of government. Thus the 
science of money, once a mystery of the schools, has become a 
part of our common, everyday knowledge. Yet the time was 
not then ripe for the adoption of a rational monetary system, 
and the greenback movement, therefore dwindled and failed. 
Its mission was to sow the seed for the future harvest. Had 
it obtained possession of the government, it is doubtful 
whether it would have brought more than temporary relief to 
the people, under the conditions which then prevailed. With 
speculative ownership of land, private control of railroads, 
telegraphs, etc., and banks of issue still left, the favored 
classes would have continued to absorb the wealth of the 
country, and social conditions, after a while, would have grown 
worse. For these are the factors in our industrial system 
which produce the undue concentration of wealth; and so long 
as they are left free to operate, any sudden stimulation of pro- 
ductive forces, whether brought about by a redundant circu- 
lation or otherwise, must, after a brief period, only aggravate 
social inequalities, by bringing more wealth within the power 
of monopoly. If the laborer is, by any means, enabled to 
increase the stock of wealth, is his condition improved if, 
barred off from natural bounties by the speculative land 
monopolists, he finds himself unable to exert his labor for his 
own benefit? If he still works for his own employer for the 
want of land upon which to exert his labor, how can he be any- 
thing else than the employe of another? And if he is compelled 
thus to be dependent, must he not continue to surrender the 
fruits of his labor to the man who stands over him in the atti- 
tude and relation of master? So it is plain to see that while 
greenbackism involved a great truth, its day had not quite 
come. Truth can only make its way as men are prepared to 
receive it ; the preparation is a matter of growth, of evolution. 
It is because of this fact that so much time is needed to work 
out social problems. It may be said, indeed, that defeat and 
disappointment await, at first, every scheme for the betterment 



THE UFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 257 

of human society. The cold and callous conservatism that 
lies dormant in all human institutions is easily quickened into 
ferocious opposition to every movement that threatens to 
change, or seeks to turn loose the spirit of freedom in the 
bosom of organized society. Thus, every advance in human 
thought develops reactionary tendencies of a more or less vio- 
lent character. It is easy, therefore, to see why the green- 
back movement aroused all of the opposition inherent in the 
old money fallacies; and why, out of the conflict has come the 
single gold standard — the logical result of views which per- 
sist in identifying money .with commodity. Yet, though the 
reaction of greenbackisra has carried us to the extreme of 
gold monometalism, as gold alone cannot supply the world's 
demand for money, even the gold standard men concede that 
resort must be had to paper currency. The question, there- 
fore, now is not whether paper money shall be used as 
an essential part of the country's circulation, but whether 
the banks or the government shall issue it. This brings, 
once again, prominently before the country, the old green- 
back question, viz.: Whether the issuing of money is the 
proper function of government, or a matter of private busi- 
ness to be turned over to the banking corporations. But it finds 
conditions more favorable to its j ust consideration. 

The past twenty years have witnessed a wonderful advance 
in economic thought. Henry George has shattered the idols of 
old political economists, and a freer spirit has followed in the 
wake of his political teachings. Political economy is no longer 
the dismal science. It has entered into the world's common 
thought, and, in the light of the new theories, is seen to be the 
truth of humanity, boldly asserting the rights of labor, upon 
the broadest ground of natural justice. The law of natural 
justice demands that labor should have the fullest opportunity 
to produce wealth. This is its birthright. And how can it 
create wealth so long as it is denied access to land ? — so long 
as land is the subject of private appropriation for speculative 
purposes ? Destroy monopoly in land so that labor may have 
access to it upon easy terms, and you establish at once the 
condition most favorable to free and active production. There 



258 THE LIKE WORK OF THOIVIAS L. NUGENT. 

will then be no lack of opportunity. Labor will enter the 
field of production unfettered — no longer the victim of unjust 
exactions. It is because such a condition is seen to be one of 
essential justice, that the heart of humanity has responded so 
generously to Henry George's land theories. Production, 
under the freest possible conditions, is what these theories pro- 
pose, and this is what labor needs, since real freedom in produc- 
tion means the free use of that upon which labor must exert 
itself. This must always be the first concern of intelligent 
labor, and vast numbers of earnest thinkers have come to 
see it clearly. This is why the land question has found such 
lodgment it the public mind. But the social problem does not 
stop with the question of production. It takes in that of dis- 
tribution also. Free production, however, means of itself 
equitable distribution, since it proposes that each man shall 
own and enjoy that which his skill and industry produces. 
The land question means all of this ; but yet, in our highly 
organized social and industrial system, there must be some 
adequate means of exchanging the products of labor, in order 
that the full benefits of free protection may be obtained. The 
money question, therefore, comes to the front linked with 
the land question. The two cannot be separated, and when 
both are solved aright, labor will be free. 

Here we find the groundwork of real, lasting and comprehen- 
sive reform. Strikes, boycotts, etc., are but temporary and 
partial remedies at best, and now that Debs has been sent to 
jail, it is safe to say labor can no longer avail itself of these. 
If it should invent other modes of resisting wage reduction, 
corporate wealth may safely rely upon the courts to nullify 
them. An extension of the new doctrine of constructive crim- 
inality, or a resort to judicial discretion, as exemplified in the 
late contempt proceedings at Chicago, will easily do the work. 
Wage earners will be enjoined, practically deprived of a jury 
trial, fined and imprisoned under the jurisdiction now claimed 
by the courts of equity; and thus, in the name of law and order, 
may they be stripped of natural rights, in the defense of which 
humanity has bled upon a thousand battlefields; and yet, what 
politician or new.spaper, claiming to represent the old parties, 



l^HK LII'K WORK OK THOMAS h. NUGKNT. 259 

will fail to sustain such judicial outrages! Jefferson's fear of 
the courts under a federal system of government has been fully 
justified by these unconstitutional proceedings, and the blow 
to liberty, which his prophetic vision foresaw, falls first on 
wage earning labor. Is it not clear to any candid and thought- 
ful mind that labor has but few rights to-day which organized 
capital is bound to respect, and that the special right, which it 
esteems more highly than all others, the right to have a voice 
in fixing its own compensation, is utterly and, if present condi- 
tions remain, hopelessly gone ? For, what hope is there for 
labor if it has lost its royal prerogative, which alone gives it 
dignity and independence ? What, then, must labor do? This 
is the answer : Let it abandon makeshifts and expedients, 
except when desperate straits make them necessary, as dernier 
resort. Let us beware of coercive methods which put unna- 
tural restrictions upon the free competitions of civil life, and 
use them, if at all, only when the struggle for existence is upon 
it. Let it learn that the wage question is not so much a ques- 
tion of dollars and cents as of liberty ; that liberty, in its last 
analysis, is synonymous with opportunity, and that opportunity 
in any just se.nse can only come to labor when conditions shall 
afford it the right to fix its own compensation. Let it finally 
learn the lesson so impressively taught by all history that only 
the ballot can bring such conditions. 

If organized labor could fully comprehend the situation it 
might, even now, while its noble martyr languishes in a dun- 
geon, organize victory in the face of apparent defeat. The 
Omaha platform means victory for the laboring men in all the 
grades of service — victory lasting and complete, attained by 
normal methods along the lines here indicated — victory that 
shall bring liberty, opportunity, manhood ; victory, therefore, 
that shall leave the wage question behind when the smoke shall 
lift from the political battlefield. Will the banded brother- 
hoods of toilers get upon it with us, and help to win such a vic- 
tory in the next national contest ? Shall 189G witness the com- 
plete enslavement of labor, or prove to be its year of jubilee? 
Organized labor can alone solve this momentous question ! 
Will it do it ? T. L. Nugent. 



THK LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 26l 



NOT ASHAMED TO THINK. 



JUDGE NUGENT'S PEPLY TO DR. PANKIN'S LETTER, 



Declares That He Is Neither Ashamed Nor Afraid To Think — Gives His 
Views On " Progress And Poverty " — Sarcastic References, 

[Port Worth Gazetti\ July 11, 1894.) 

To the Gazette: I notice in a late issue of your paper a 
letter from Dr. J. D. Rankin charging me with being a 
" communist," an " anarchist " and a "socialist." To those 
who know me this furious onslaught will be rather amusing 
than otherwise, but some people may suppose that the doctor 
has ground for his criticisms, and for their benefit, a word of ex- 
planation may appropriately be given. I^et me say, however, 
in advance that far from denouncing farmers as ' ' robbers, ' ' I 
have always held and still believe that they are the innocent 
victims of more outrageous and systematic robbery than any 
other class of our citizens. The statement attributed to me by 
the report of my speech before the Carpenters' Union, which I do 
not remember to have seen before, has no foundation in fact to 
rest upon. It resulted, evidently, from a gross misconception 
of what I did say. Again, I cordially agree with the doctor that 
interest has been a great oppressor of the race during all of the 
ages, but I believe that rent has been equally its curse and 
destroyer. I do not believe, however, that mankind will ever 
reach a social state or condition short of the millenium in which 
both interest and rent will cease to exi.st. Land, labor and 
capital will remain to the end as the factors employed by organ- 
ized civil society in the production of wealth, and as long as 
the.se remain rent and interest in some form or degree will con- 



262 Tiii<; i,ii')': wokic oi' tiujmas l. nu(;knT. 

tiime to exist. What a man produces by his labor, i. e., capi- 
tal, he has a right to by the laws of natural justice; it belongs 
to him, and belonging to him he has a right to charge for its 
use. Hence if a man improve real estate, he may legitimatelj'' 
demand a rental from him who uses it. No one believes in so 
Inirdening such improved real estate as to oppress the owner, 
though many thoughtful men think that taxation should be so 
adjusted as to fall most heavily upon the man who " monopo- 
lizes land for speculative purposes. ' ' 

HERITAGE OF THE PEOPLE. 

Wliat specific measures should be passed to abate the evils of 
land speculation the platform of the People's Party does not set 
forth. It only declares that " land and other natural resour- 
ces are the heritage of the people and .should not be monopo- 
lized for .speculative purposes." and this fundamental propo.si- 
tion commands my unqualified assent. I have not reached the 
conclusion that the " single land tax " as advocated by Henry 
George should be at this time adopted in Texas; but rather 
incline to the opinion that a reasonable exemption of iraprov^e- 
ments — that is, an exemption up to some reasonable value — 
would, by increasing the burden on improved land largely held 
by uon-re.sidents, encourage home building and discourage in- 
vestments in land to be held out of use for the purpose of reap- 
ing the enhanced value which results from the settlement of the 
country. While doing this I would continue assessments on 
other forms of property. 

In these matters as in others, it might be well to enlarge the 
powers of local communities so as to enable them to take care 
of their own interests. The doctrines of the extreme sociali.sts 
and communists I have no sympathy whatever with; Bellamy ism 
I regard as the loveliest of dreams — a .state or condition that 
might prevail among angels, but totally unfit for selfish human 
beings. Anarchy to me is utterly odious, and I veril)^ believe 
Dr. Rankin is nearer to it now than I can ever get. I believe 
essentially in a government of law and order erected on sub- 
stantial justice and equality. To attain this condition the 
government should take charge of all public utilities — should 



The life work oi' thomas l. nugent. '2(>'.i 

in fact exercise all strictly social and public functions, but 
should leave the citizen in full, undiminished possession of all 
his private matters, the arbiter of his own destiny, the archi- 
tect of his own fortune — yes, should turn over to him whatever 
he may legitimately seek to attain by the free exercise of his 
own individual faculties and powers. In fine, I am a pro- 
nounced believer in a robust individualism exercised in all 
legitimate and proper ways, that is, ways which do not infringe 
upon personal rights on the one hand or lead into the domain 
of public fmictions on the other. 

PUREST DEMOCRACY. 

Destroy monopol}' in land, transportation and money by any 
admissible form of legislation, and the citizen in his individual 
capacity can be safely trusted to take care of himself. This I 
call the purest of democracy, though I see no objection to its 
being designated as quasi-socialism. The extreme socialists 
aim at the destruction of many institutions which I regard as 
valuable, and hence I am not an extreme socialist. If populists 
can succeed in breaking up the trinity of monopolies here 
referred to, they will open avenues for legitimate investment, 
disenthrall individual industry and skill, reduce rent and 
interest to the minimum and give wings to individual freedom 
and hope, and all this they will do by strictly proper and nor- 
mal methods, without revolution or violent disturbance of any 
kind. I have no doubt that Mr. George has taught more 
sound, economic truth than all the writers whose books have 
been thrown upon the market within the past twenty years, and 
yet, there are many views stated by him in his wonderful and 
luminous writings that I do not concur in. Because Dr. Rankin 
scolds at him and denounces him as a socialist, it would be 
unwise to conclude that he is any thing of the kind. Indeed 
the real philosophic writers of the period have long since ceased 
to class him with the socialists, who themselves will not recog- 
nize him as one of their number. In fact, he is sui generis — 
a bold, original thinker, who does not hesitate to follow the 
deductions of his own reason, however they maj^ clash with the 
notions of other people. He doubtless expects too much from 



2(54 THK LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

the single land tax, and too greatly undervalues other reme- 
dies; but all the same, I take ofif my hat to the fearless thinker, 
whose honesty and humanity have induced him to throw the 
light of his great intellect along comparatively unexplored 
pathways of investigation, and whose bugle-call ©faction, how- 
ever doubtfully it may sound toothers, has aroused the "heart- 
sore and footsore" multitudes of earth to shake off the dust of 
ages and stand for the rights and dignities of labor. 

world's conspicuous champion. 

Other men may improve upon what he has done, but he 
stands forth to-day as the world's most conspicuous champion 
of equal rights — the one single man who, years before reform 
had taken the definite form of a great party organization, met 
monopoly upon its own vantage ground, and threw in its teeth 
the challenge to battle. That he has made mistakes, no one 
will deny; that all of his views are sound, no one will contend; 
but the shrivelled soul that would deny to him his true position 
among the world's teachers because he has not seen fit to 
specialize his work by championing some superficial hobby will 
labor in vain to dim the luster of his glory, or deprive him of 
the place which he occupies in the affections of the toil worn 
poor, whose defense has been at once the burden and the inspira- 
tion of his life. 

Mr. George's greatest book, " Progress and Poverty, " was 
largely written to correct certain fundamental errors respecting 
the relations of wages and capital, which had received almost 
luiiversal recognition. Having by a demonstration, matchless 
in its luminous and convincing character, shown that " wages 
are produced by the labor for which they are paid," and not 
by capital, he next proceeds to destroy the Malthusian theory 
which holds that " increase of population nuist tend to reduce 
wages and deepen poverty," and to show the reverse of this to 
be true, viz: that " in any given state of civilization a greater 
number of people can be better provided for than a smaller, ' ' 
and finally expounds the " laws of distribution," reaching the 
conclusion that ownership of land which gives the right to hold 



THK 1,1 1'E WORK OI-' THOMAS I,. NUOKNT. 2(55 

it from use for speculative purposes is the cause of that increase 
of population and wealth. 

" PROGRESS AND POVERTV . " 

Now, Mr. George may not have succeeded in solving this 
greatest of all economic problems with the degree of certainty 
and the elaboration of details which usually attend the demon- 
strations of Dr. Rankin; but it is only according him justice to 
say that ' ' Progress and Poverty ' ' has not only convinced the 
worker that he is engaged in producing his own wages, but, in 
so convincing him, has put into his bosom a new sense of his 
own dignity and inspired him with a new determination to claim 
that which justly belongs to him. That Dr. Rankin can only 
see " communism," "socialism," " anarchism " in this won- 
derful book may be a great misfortune to Mr. George, but its 
deductions have been approved by Jere Simpson, the Popu- 
list congressman, Thomas G. Sherman, the great lawyer, whose 
wealth consists almost entirely of real estate, and by many 
others eminent among various classes of reformers, and none 
of these people, be it said, sees in them any of the dangerous 
tendencies which Dr. Rankin seems so much to dread. 

One word more. Not a word have I ever written or 
spoken that justifies the Gazette in saying that I am more 
addicted to Bellamyism or Georg^ism than to Populism, as 
set forth in the Omaha platform. I fully endorse every plank 
in the Omaha platform and stand fully and unequivocally with 
our people in defense of it. Still, having all my life, even 
from childhood, been reading and thinking for myself, I am 
not disposed to dry up the fountains of my intellect or refuse to 
replenish them with streams of truth that may flow from any 
source. Hence I have derived inspiration even from ' ' Look- 
ing Backward " — and that, too, while believing that the beauti- 
ful vision reflected from its pages can never, while men are sel- 
fish, be realized in organized human societ5\ I am neither 
ashamed nor afraid to think. 

T. L. Nugent. 



The hli-'E WORK OF THOMAS h. MUGKNT. LMi7 



JUDGE NUGENT'S CHARGE TO THE 
GRAND JURY, 

[The Palo Piuto Star, Nov. 8. 1879.] 

G entlemcri of tlie Grand Jury: 

When, nearly a hundred years ago, our ancestors, in conven- 
tion assembled, adopted and promulgated the constitution of 
the United States, they sought to formulate and transmit for 
the permanent use of their posterity certain great principles, the 
recognition and observance of which they believed to be neces- 
sary to the enjoyment of civil liberty and the blessings of free 
government. The idea of a written constitution, distinctly 
defining and limiting the powers of government on the one 
hand, and carefully guarding from unjust encroachment on the 
other the vital liberties of the people, was not to them a crude 
and novel suggestion, hastily developed and executed under 
the pressure of a great emergency. It had been long before 
evolved out of the discussions of past generations, and was not 
only familiar to them as a theory long entertained by leading 
minds, but must have been forcibly suggested by recent occur- 
rences with which they were deeply involved. Indeed, it must 
have been evident to them that an organic law which existed 
only in immemorial usage and left executive authority to be 
measured alone by the shifting boundaries of an uncertain and 
doubtful prerogative often pushed to the extreme of absolut- 
ism, was ill suited to a new people just starting on a career of 
self-government, full of the spirit of heroic adventure and intent 
upon securing beyond the danger of infraction those great 
rights for which they had willingly fought and bled, England 
had grown great, rich and powerful under her unwritten con- 
stitution, 3'et the flexible and yielding forms of that constitu- 
tion had on many notable occasions been bent and perverted to 



268 THi'; ijfp: work of tiiomas l. nugent. 

advance the anibilious views of despotic princes, and that, too, 
under a plausible and apparently sincere claim of right. Hence 
it was that the framers of the American constitution sought to 
incorporate in that instrument clear and unmistakable declara- 
tions affecting the rights of the citizen and well-defined limita- 
tions upon the exercise of authority which should forever obviate 
all danger to human freedom which arises from the possession 
of uncertain and doubtful powers. Those principles of the 
common law — England's unwritten constitution — which ages 
of experience had shown to be essential, were distinctly re- 
enacted, and the boundaries of authority were traced in that 
wonderful instrument with unerring certainty and precision. 
That declaration which, hundreds of years before, the barons 
had extorted from King John of England, was precisely set 
forth and its protection extended to every American citizen, 
and to-day it is the chief glory of our institutions that no citi- 
zen of this great republic can be deprived of life, liberty or prop- 
erty, except by due course of the law of the land. And this 
declaration, deemed so essential to the perpetuity of free insti- 
tutions, has passed into the written constitution of every state 
in the Union, including that of our own great commonwealth. 
But our organic law has not merely declared what the abstract 
rights of the people are. It has gone further and in defining 
or providing what shall be considered due course of law, it has 
made the people themselves the responsible and perpetual guar- 
dians of their own rights. From the first enactment of a law to its 
ultimate enforcement in the courts the popular judgment is 
sought to be embodied and expressed. Indeed, the whole ma- 
chinery of government operates only as it is directed and 
impelled by the people's will acting through constitutional 
forms. Wherever we touch this wonderful and consummate 
system, we are brought at once under the influence and within 
the range of that august though invisible agency whose pres- 
ence none can escape and whose manifestations are as varied 
and potent as the functions of civil government themselves. 
The laws are framed and adopted by representatives chosen by 
the free suffrage of the people; ever)^ executive officer in the 
state holds his office by virtue of the same sovereign choice — 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 2(39 

while the judge who sits on the bench to construe and enforce 
the law is called to the discharge of his exalted duties by the 
popular voice expressed through the ballot box. Not only 
so; so carefully has our organic law sought to guard 
popular rights and induce an expression of the popular 
judgment in all important matters that no court of gen- 
eral jurisdiction is regarded as complete and. organized 
for duty, until a grand jury has been organized and 
impaneled, and a petit jury have taken their seats in the jury 
box. Thus, while public functionaries are charged with most 
responsible and important duties connected with the wellbeing 
of society, the law will not tolerate the idea that to any single 
individual should be given the unrestrained authority to pass 
upon the rights and liberties of the citizen. The humblest 
man in the state has the right to demand a jury of twelve 
men to try his cause and if he be proceeded against on a 
felonious accusation, the law will not permit him to waive 
this great and valuable right. It must be apparent from this 
hasty summary that under our form of government, all respon- 
sible power is lodged with the people, and if grievances exist, 
the frequency of elections renders their correction easy and 
practicable by the exercise of the power of free choice, which 
is guaranteed to the suffragists of the state. Whatever good or 
evil may result to society from the enforcement or non-enforce- 
ment of the laws in the courts, is traceable finally to the actions 
of juries, upon whom the law devolves the responsibility of 
determining the guilt or innocence of persons charged with 
crime. The judge on the bench can only expound the law — 
issues of fact are placed beyond his control, except when in 
civil and misdemeanor cases the parties waive a jury. Period- 
ically it is expected that every qualified citizen shall take his 
place in the jury box and thus constitute an important factor 
in the actual administration of justice. Thus the jury S3^stem 
enters into and forms a part of the judicial scheme of the state, 
representing and expressing the popular judgment on all issues 
of fact determinable in the court room. Hence, you will readily 
perceive, that as a matter of fact as well as of theory, the laws 
which the people enact are executed and enforced by the people 



270 run I.IFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

themselves, and, of the great rights of person and property 
guaranteed to the citizen, the people are made the responsible 
conservators by the organic law itself. How apparent, then, 
it is that justice can only be properly and efficiently adminis- 
tered when the people themselves are determined that it shall 
be so administered. 

The constitution wisel}^ provides, that no man shall be held 
to answer a charge of felony except upon the presentation of 
the grand jury. To convict one of felony is to disfranchise him 
utterly and place upon him a stigma which is practically inef- 
faceable. To be deprived of .the right to vote, or sit on a jury, 
or even to testify in a court of justice, are the awful conse- 
quences which follow a condemnation to the penitentiary. 
And when, to these terrible disabilities, we add the ban which 
society places on the convict and even his helpless and inno- 
cent offspring, we can understand why the framers of our 
organic law have made it possible to prosecute one accused of 
felony when nine or more intelligent freeholders have given 
their assent to a true bill of indictment, presented in open 
court, under the visible forms and solemnities of judicial pro- 
ceedings. Nor is this a recent precaution, originated and devised 
by our own immediate lawmakers. Its traces are discernible far 
back in the dim twilight of English history, and it has de- 
scended to us by legitimate inheritance from our remote ances- 
tors — an institution venerable for its antiquity and justly prized 
for the security it has always afforded the citizen against arbi- 
trary and lawless power. You, gentlemen, as grand jurors, 
occupy to-day a station honored in the traditions of the great 
race to which you belong. You cannot be too profoundly im- 
pressed with the fact that you are the regular and legitimate 
successors in office of grand jurors who, many hundreds of 
years ago exercised similar functions in that remote age when 
our noble jurisprudence began to adjust itself to the lofty 
instinct, and aspirations of our liberty-loving ancestry. Nor 
ought you to be more sensible of the fact that the exalted sta- 
tion in which the law now places you has come down to you 
through many ages, conspicuous always for its use to humanity 
and bearing with it the approval of unnumbered generations. 



THE LII'K WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 271 

111 many respects your position, functions and privileges are of 
a peculiar and exceptional character. Ex-parte in your inves- 
tigations and protected by the seal of secrecy which the law 
imposes on your deliberation, your freedom of action is abun- 
dantly secured against the violence and undue influence which 
too often undermine and destroy the utility and efficiency of 
human institutions. 

The proceedings of no other tribunal are thus withdrawn by 
the law from popular observation. You are not to try causes, 
but to determine whether the evidence on behalf of the state is 
sufficient to warrant a prosecution. No individual when pro- 
ceeded against has the right to appear before you with his wit- 
nesses, and contest the matter at issue between himself and the 
state. He can only await your action in silence, and when you 
have acted, his right to be heard in his own defense for the first 
time exists. His reputation, his rights, his liberties are for the 
time being at your mercy, and the law deprives him of the 
right to even know the fact. Your action being thus neces- 
sarily one-sided, so to speak, you can readily understand that 
your relations to society are of the most delicate and important 
character. If inspired by malice or urged by popular clamor, you 
should causelessly indict on innocent man, for the injury thus 
inflicted on private character and personal right, you could not 
be made answerable by any method or proceeding known to the 
law, since the grounds or reasons of your action cannot be 
inquired into. If, on the other hand, you should willfully abdi- 
cate your high prerogatives in the presence of a great emer- 
gency, and refuse to indict malefactors whose misdeeds are 
sanctioned and protected by a vicious public sentiment, good 
men might be stricken with despair and society paralyzed by 
the presence of evils it could not otherwise cope with; yet the 
law would still invest you with the mantle of complete irre- 
sponsibility. How great, then, is the trust confided to you, and 
how tremendous the moral responsibility under which you rest! 
It is well indeed that the qualifications of grand jurors are 
placed so high. For such a station and for such duty none but 
good men should be chosen, and such only, the law esteems fit 
to be grand jurors- To a good man, it makes little difference 



272 THK LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT, 

whether his action can be called in cjuestion in a conrt of jus- 
tice or in the higher forum of the conscience. In either case the 
rule of right is the rule of his conduct and, whether he deals 
with the concerns of an individual or with the larger interests 
of society, his sense of obligation will inevitably impel him to 
discharge his trust without faltering and without inflicting 
needless injury upon any one. To such does the law seek to 
commit the grand jury service of the country, and I trust, gen- 
tlemen, that the purpose and theory of the law have found a 
practical exemplification in your selection as grand jurors for 
the present term of this court. 

I have been led, gentlemen, into these reflections by recent 
occurrences in your county which show that there are still men 
in our country who, forgetting the teachings of experience, the 
higher instincts of our nature and the admonitions of our com- 
mon Christianity, are quite willing to substitute the dark and 
.sanguinary methods of mob law for the safe, just and lawful 
procedure of the court room. Falsely concluding that crime 
cannot be punished in the courts, they hasten to take the law 
in their own hands and mete out a bloody vengeance at the 
nuizzle of a pistol or end of a rope, upon those whom public 
suspicion has stigmatized as lawbreakers. It will not do to say 
in their defense that good men have engaged in these summary 
and unlawful executions. When society in the first stages of 
its formation, before courts and juries are provided, is com- 
pelled to resort to violent and irregular methods in order to 
protect itself against desperate combinations which threaten its 
existence, its action is justifiable upon principles which permjt 
an individual to slay his antagonist when his life or person is 
put in extreme peril. But no community with an organized 
civil government complete in all its parts, in which courts are 
regularly and periodically held and a large majority of whose 
constituents are law abiding citizens, willing and able to enforce 
the law, can be placed in a .situation which justifies a re.sort to 
such exceptional means of self-protection. It is idle to .say, 
when a pri.soner confined in jail is slain in the mid.st of his 
.shackles, that he was a bad man, or that he had repeatedly 
evaded justice, or that his conviction in a lawful way would be 



THE LIFE WOKK OF THOMAvS L. NUGENT. 273 

attended, if attempted, with great trouble and expense. Such 
excuses would be no defense in a court of justice where the 
laws are administered and, if allowable at all, they would con- 
stitute a convenient cloak beneath whose ample folds might be 
hidden the darkest and most horrible forms of crime which have 
come within the wide range of experience and observation. 
The human race, after the lapse of six thousand years, has not 
yet adopted the maxim, that the end justifies the means. Evils 
exist in society and have existed since our original progenitor 
lapsed from his condition of primitive innocence; and yet the 
omnipotent Creator has not seen fit to bring them to an abrupt 
termination by sudden, violent and irregular means. He has, 
in His wisdom, permitted them to infest human nature through 
long years of torturing experience, and we have no reason to 
believe that, for their eradication, he designs the use of other 
agencies than those which have been silently operating for so 
many centuries. Are we wiser or better than he ? No, gentle- 
men, the reasoning by which good men reach the conclusion 
that it is right to rid society of disreputable characters by viola- 
ting the law themselves, is delusive and ruinous. Organized 
society affords but one proper and effectual method of enforcing 
the law against men who infract its provisions, and a resort to 
anj' other is not only indefensible, but full of peril to the best 
interests of the citizens. A moment's reflection must satisfy 
any candid mind of the truth of this statement. 

Courts and juries are instituted in order that the collective 
judgment of society may be invoked upon issues involving the 
rights of person or property of individuals. And society has 
deliberately ordained that its collective judgment, expressed 
under constitutional forms of its own creation, shall always be 
held essential to the trial and condemnation of a citizen on any 
accusation of crime. Each individual in society must be held 
to have given his assent to this wise and jiidicious arrangement 
in consideration for the protection which it, in turn, affords 
him. Thus a bond of reciprocal rights, of mutual duty and 
dependence is established by which the .stability and unity of 
society is maintained — and thus, may I not add, every constit- 
uent member of society is enabled to engage in the pursuit of 



274 THE LIFE WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

earthly happiness with all the conditions of success that civil 
government can provide. But, suppose one or more individ- 
uals should conclude that the interests of society demand the 
killing of certain characters and shovild forthwith proceed to 
execute their purpose by violently taking their lives. Here the 
right of society to inflict punishment by the exercise of its col- 
lective judgment, obtained and expressed through judicial 
forms, has been defeated by the unauthorized and reckless 
action of a few individuals. Is it not plain that society is 
aggrieved ? But suppose the bad precedent should be followed 
by others and yet again by others upon the same delusive prin- 
ciple that a free man may rightfully do that in the interest of 
society, which society, in its organization, reserved to itself the 
exclusive right to do. Does it need argument to show that 
just in proportion as this false assumption is acted upon will 
the bonds that bind society together be weakened ? And if the 
vice should become universal, would not anarchy be the inevi- 
table result ? But not only is this the case — where mob law 
prevails the good as well as the bad are no longer safe. The 
man who takes the law in his own hands and visits summary 
punishment on an unconvicted and helpless prisoner above that 
which the law denounces against his crime, is himself in a fair 
way to despise the law and throw off restraints whenever it 
conies into collision with his interests or inclinations. The transi- 
tion from mob violence to open and high-handtd lawlessness is 
swift and easy. The commission of one crime, however dis- 
guised under glamor of good motives, soon paves the way to 
the commission of another. Break down the barriers which 
the law and the individual conscience throw around human 
action by taking one step in a career of vice, and the chances 
that the second step will be taken are indefinitely multiplied. 
Once started down the declivity of crime, and human philoso- 
phy and human experience can promise nothing but a final 
descent into the yawning chasm of hopeless and total ruin. 

To all human reasoning, the man who can grant his con- 
sent to the unlawful and inexcusable slaying of a human being 
because he believes the interests of society demand his taking 
off, can hardly be expected to continue in every other respect a 



THE LIFE WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 275 

law abiding citizen. Bearing about with him the consciousness 
that in the conteraplation of the law both of God and man, he is 
guilty of the most atrocious offense known to the criminal calen- 
dar, is it presumable that he will always so govern his human 
passions and so master his human infirmities as at all times to 
preserve a proper perception of the rights of good men against 
whom mob law can find no pretext of violence ? Be assured, 
gentlemen, the teachings of all experience are to the contrary. 
Mob law soon becomes as blind as justice. If persisted in, it 
induces the feeling that the courts and even the law itself are 
useless and costly encumbrances, if not mere expedients to 
cover up and protect crime. And when a community is given 
over to this belief, no man's life or property is secure. At first, 
as a rule, lynchers are men who act from honorable though 
terribly misguided motives. Assuming that society is unable 
to protect itself, they essay the task of affording it protection 
themselves. Soon, however, they receive accessions from the 
ranks of the evil disposed, and thus mob law becomes the con- 
venient instrument of private malice or revenge. When this 
point is reached (and, unfortunately, it is reached but too soon), 
the good man is as unsafe as the law breaker, all moral dis- 
tinctions as applied to the character and conduct of men are 
swept aside, and lawless might is enthroned as the only right 
to deal out impartial assassination to those who will not recog- 
nize its supremacy. The law can never be vindicated by its 
violation, nor can justice be promoted by the perpetration of 
wrong. If there are bad men in our midst, they can be pun- 
ished in the courts. Let every good citizen but understand 
that the law imposes on him the duty to aid in its enforcement — 
let him feel that he is to some extent responsible for the adminis- 
tration of justice, and let him render aid to the civil officers in 
the spirit of the law itself, and guilty men cannot escape. 
Fifty men ride up to a jail and shoot a prisoner to death! Sup- 
pose these fifty men had labored with the same energy and zeal 
to have the law properly enforced against their murdered vic- 
tim, could he have escaped if guilty ? Every rational man 
must answer in the negative. The law provides too many 
methods of ferreting out crime to justify any other belief. 



276 THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

What we all need, gentlemen, is a more profound veneration 
for the law itself, a more steady and conscientious zeal for its 
enforcement in the courts, and a more resolute determination 
to discountenance and resist any departure from its wise and 
judicious methods. Given this, and the administration of 
criminal justice will become safe, certain and effectual. 

It is well, gentlemen, from time to time, in a country like 
ours, to recur to first principles, to review the fundamental 
truths upon which the structure of our free institutions rests. 
Ours is emphatically a government of law. It admits of no 
method of violence in its ordinary administration. With its 
three co-ordinate branches, independent in tljeir respective 
spheres, yet maintaining an unexampled unity and vigor by the 
mutual dependence and interplay of constitutional functions, 
it is nevertheless a government whose forms and procedure par- 
take of the very spirit of peace and order. It is a government 
which equally eschewing arbitrary force on the one hand and 
unbridled license on the other, has found that happy means of 
liberty protected by law which is the highest civil state attain- 
able by organized society. Could we appreciate this fact, our 
free government and the ordinarj' methods of protection which 
it affords the citizens would occupy a place in our affections 
second only to that filled by the gospel of the Savior of Man. 
Just at this time we are passing through an epoch in our 
national existence which renders such reflections peculiarly 
appropriate and opportune. To reflecting and serious minds, 
the times in which we live are invested with a solemnity 
which gives to them a painful and almost tragical interest. 
When the great civil war closed, thousands of volunteer 
soldiers resumed their places in society whose minds had 
become familiarized with the arbitrary ways of military life. 
Four years of strife and the reign of force had measurably 
displaced that veneration for peaceful methods which our tra- 
ditions, our history and our form of government were so well 
calculated to inspire. Influence virtually at war with the ideas 
and traditional training of our people have been thus set to 
work in every locality in the Union — influences\vhich tried in 
a greater or less degree to scriouslv modify, if not to change 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 277 

wholly the theory of government itself. How far these influences 
shall prevail may be the great issue for American freemen to 
decide within the next decade. We may not have very much 
to say or do in the civil contest now looming up, which is to 
settle this issue in the great centers of population; but we may 
nevertheless, by sternly insisting on the simple procedure of 
the law and by unsparingly punishing any departure from it, 
aid in restoring to our immediate section that ancient regime 
which we know to be all sufficient to secure to us and our pos- 
terity those beneficent ends for which government was estab- 
lished among men — the enjoyment of life, liberty and property. 
To the end that this may be done, gentlemen, I earnestly 
commend to you the task of investigating and bringing to pun- 
ishment all those who in your county, by engaging in mob 
violence, have registered themselves as promoters of that evil 
tendency to arbitrary power which an unhappy period has 
entailed upon us, and which it is the duty of every American 
citizen to resist by the moral and legal means at his command. 

T. L. Nugent, Judge. 



THE I,IFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 2~U 



JUDGE T. L. NUGENT DECLINES, 



A Pre''Arranged Business Engagement Prevents, but the Non*' 
Partisan Movement Will Receive His Hearty Support. 



HE ARRAIGNS THE PARTY MACHINE. 



Hon. J. E. Martin, Chainnan, etc., Fort Worth, Tex. 

My Dear Sir — I have already announced my inability to 
make the race for supreme Judge on the non-partisan ticket; 
but I deem it proper to address you on the subject in order that 
no misunderstanding may arise touching the motives which 
have prompted me to decline the nomination. And I am the 
more strongly inclined to this by the consideration that, having 
announced my purpose not to run, a failure to make known to 
you, the official head of the independent movement, the reasons 
which make this course on my part imperative might leave in 
the minds of some an injurious doubt as to my attitude towards 
that movement. 

In the first place, before the convention made its nominations, 
I had tendered my resignation of the office of District Judge, 
under an arrangement to resume the practice of my profession, 
from which I could not withdraw without a breach of good 
faith, and without, I may add, disappointing gentlemen who 
are parties to that arrangement with the understanding that it 
is to be permanent. 

In the next place, you will pardon me for saying that I know 
of no valid reason why the present Supreme Judges should 
be displaced. They are able, learned and mo.st excellent gen- 



280 THK LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

tleinen, and I believe their adjudications are in the main cor- 
rect and thoroughly impartial. This assuredly is all the people 
could demand. In the hands of this court, headed as it is by 
the Chief Justice, whose exalted character and learning fit him 
to preside over any tribunal in the land, no man's rights need 
suffer. And if to this be added the consideration that frequent 
changes in judicial incumbents tend to unsettle the law and 
provoke litigation, it may be readily seen that, for the public 
good, which is best promoted by stability and uniformity of 
decisions, the present vSupreme Judges should be retained. 

But in addition to what I have said there is this to be added, 
that I have abandoned official life, with no intention or desire to 
return to it — for the reason alone that my duty to myself and 
family required me to do so. Hence I could not and would not 
accept the office of supreme judge if elected to it. 

Having thus stated my reasons for declining the nomination 
tendered by the non- partisans, I desire it distinctly understood 
that I am in sympathy with the independent movement and 
shall support Jones and Broiles. For years past the political 
machine has ruled Texas. Conventions have met simply to 
effectuate prearranged nominations and to afford favorable 
opportunities to trade in the offices for which a canvass before 
the people has not been deemed necessary — to make good the 
decrees of the cabal, or "swap" political " horses." Thus 
conventions and not the hustings have become the arenas of 
political conflicts, and the time-honored custom of settling politi- 
cal issues by public discussions before the people has gradually 
given place to adroit manipulation and management. And so 
it has also happened that our political campaigns have lost their 
old-time dignity and involve nothing higher than the rivalries 
and personal record, of candidates. Terrell tried the old way. 
He went to the masses with a great question — and was merci- 
lessly slaughtered. The test of party fealty is to vote for the 
nominees — "never scratch a ticket or refuse a drink," is the 
way to put it when the convention is in session and the fever is 
on. Inevitably, all this has led to the supremacy of the 
machine, and Texas to-day enjoys the distinction of having 
her political Warwick to shape her political issues, dictate 



THE I.IPE WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 281 

party platforms and manufacture governors out of the super- 
abundant raw material lying around. Thousands of people 
have long seen this evil condition of things, but to no purpose. 
The conventions have proved omnipotent, and if now and then 
there have been sporadic cases of revolt, at the crack of the 
party whip the weak have succumbed, and even the strong 
and resolute have faltered. The people have thus been period- 
ically whipped and scourged back into party ranks and practi- 
cally deprived of their rulers every two years. The framers of 
our present constitution strongly believed in short terms of 
office, and hence they limited the term of the governor to two 
years. But he mu.st be unsophisticated indeed who imagines 
that under our present political system the short terra of two 
years can be anything more, practically at least, than mere legal 
fiction. The friends of Ross stand back and Ireland goes in for 
a second term, with the certain expectation (not disappointed, 
by the way) that next time Ireland's friends will rally to put 
Ross in; and as Ireland went in for a second term without 
Democratic opposition, so Ross, whose cut and dried endorse- 
ments have throttled all party resistance, has had his " calling 
and election ' ' made doubly sure for a second term — so far as 
the machine can make it sure. Ross might probably go in for 
a third term if the hungry ones on the outside had not in cre- 
ating the two-term custom also made one against holding for a 
third term; for, you see, the machine in adjusting the equities 
of the case must not tempt its own fortunes, or hazard its own 
existence, by leaving the famishing outs to the gnawings of an 
inappeasible desire — "without God and without hope" (of 
office) in this world. 

The drift of events in this singularly complicated election 
year shows the work of the machine in a most striking man- 
ner. Thus we find the Clark-Vincent letter laying down in 
terms almost of authority the test of party fealty on the great 
issue decided last summer, and we find thereafter the conven- 
tion of the party to which these two gentlemen belong, with 
amazing and fatuous servility, accepting that test, and that, 
too, with a great show of harmony and enthusiasm. In vain 
did the brilliant Terrell protest — the words of wise old Coke 



282 THE LIFE WORK OP THOMAS T.. NUGENT. 

were as chaff. The party must be committed, even though the 
act of committal should evoke darkness enough to eclipse and 
extinguish all the light of genius and wisdom in the body. 

The evil significance of the vote by which that convention 
unanimously adopted a platform containing substantially the 
"heart of oak" plank is not lessened, but greatl}' enhanced by 
tlie fact that many of the men in the body who thus recorded 
their own condemnation have, if reports be true, been busily 
engaged inventing excuses for their action — some in what seems 
bad faith, contending that the convention not having been 
called to nominate state officers had no jurisdiction of the ques- 
tion, others that the declaration known as the ninth plank is 
only binding for two ^-ears, and so on ad nauseam. 

I only cite this to show the extent to which the will of one 
man has impressed itself upon the councils and management of 
the most powerful political organization in the state. 

While the "Warwick" of Texas politics is a gentleman of 
undoubted respectabilit}' and standing, I do not doubt that a 
word from him is sufficient to put every little party boss on the 
alert and awaken the full chorus of whip crackers throughout 
the length and breadth of the state. And when that august 
word is spoken amid the noisy din that follows, the voice of 
reason becomes silent, and blind partisan fury rules the hour. 

But it may be asked, why all this independent political 
action ? Are not things moving along smoothly ? Yes, and 
therein lies the danger. Everything is serene on the surface. 
Texas, in spite of enormous expenditures, two 3-ears of drouth 
and much crude legislation, has been reasonably prosperous, 
mainly because her expanding resources have from j^ear to 
year run her taxable values above her disbursements and 
enabled her to accumulate a surplus revenue. Thus the people s 
representatives have been enabled to reduce the rate of taxation 
and make large appropriations in behalf of the public chari- 
ties. Meanwhile, the demand for railroad regulation has been 
met b}^ the usual platitudes doled out in executive messages, a 
strong under-current of opposition to the homestead exemption 
has set in with the influx of farm-mortgaging capital, and the 
principle of moderate state taxation for .school purposes, it is 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 283 

plain to see, is threatened with destruction. Even the gover- 
nor perceives the "idea of paternaHsm" involved in this method 
of providing for public instruction, and, in his message to the 
late special session of the legislature, expresses it as his ' 'own 
view," that the state "will finally be compelled to content itself 
with the preservation, collection and distribution of the annual 
income derived from its permanent fund among the several 
counties according to scholastic population, and leave to the 
counties and smaller subdivisions the entire matter of school 
regulation and maintenance by local taxation." Whereupon, 
I have no doubt, that every bank president and railroad mag- 
nate in the state, and every non-resident land holder silently 
but fervently ejaculated, amen! When our traditional policy 
of supporting public schools in part at least by a small ad 
valorem state tax shall be abandoned, when the homestead 
exemption shall be forced out of the constitution or greatly modi- 
fied by the influence of banking associations, and when the 
railroads shall, for the want of a vigorous, manly and not 
illiberal policy of regulation and restraint, consolidate their 
power and rivet monopoly upon the people of Texas as the}' 
have done long ago in other states, then money and the machine 
will be masters of the situation. But why pursue this subject 
further! The hour has struck for the work of emancipation to 
begin. Better let it commence now, while free thought is circu- 
lating in the political atmosphere, and a spirit of manly inde- 
pendence is burning in the breasts of honest thousands. 

I trust you will pardon the length at which I have written, 
and I beg you to believe that I greatly appreciate the honor 
conferred on me by the convention, and regret that I cannot 
comply with the wishes of so honest and patriotic a body. 
Rejoicing, however, that in heading the ticket with the names 
of Jones and Broiles, it has presented candidates eminently 
worthy of support by honest and intelligent citizens of all 
classes, I am, my dear sir, with great respect, 

Your obedient servant, 

T. ly. Nugent. 



THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 285 



UNFINISHED MANUSCRIPT, 

Jefferson, instating his "principles" in his inaugural ad- 
dress, mentioned as one of them " the encouragement of agri- 
culture and of commerce, its handmaid." It was a favorite 
notion of this great man and of his associates in the work of 
establishing free government that, in an independent yeomanry, 
the nation would find the chief support in its prosperity, in peace, 
and its bulwark of defence, in time of war. 

This belief, sufficiently justified by all the history and tradi- 
tions of our race, received a thousand-fold corroboration from 
Mr. Jefferson's own observation and experience. The sturdy 
farmers of his day carried the war for freedom to a successful 
issue, and, when the tide of civil strife receded, turned with un- 
failing fortitude to the double task of developing the resources 
of a continent and establishing free institutions on an enduring 
basis. Those eventful days, and all the days of our country's 
history to the present, have demonstrated the fact that our 
agricultural classes constitute the great conservative force in 
our social and political system. Slow-moving, steady, indus- 
trious and patriotic, the agriculturist has resisted all changes in 
the existing order of things, seemingly determined to endure 
any hard lot that might be cast upon him rather than hazard 
the chances of reform striking at the roots of existing evils. 
When his foot was first planted upon American soil, he saw 
before him a continent of boundless resources — a vast store- 
house of undeveloped wealth inviting the exertion of his labor 
and filling his mind with visions of home and plenty. With 
steadfast purpose he pushed into the unexplored wilderness, and 
soon the evidences of his thrift and energy could be seen on 
every hand. Population increased, enterprises grew up, towns 
and cities sprang into existence, and the agriculturist stood forth 
recognized and honored as the most important factor in the pro- 



286 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

duction of the universal prosperit3^ He was the producer of 
crude weahh from which prosperity came to all. The fruits of 
his labor, passing into indefinitely varied aud multiplied forms 
of wealth, and thus distributed through all the avenues of trade 
and commerce, were easily seen to vitalize and sustain the vast 
and growing industrial system of the new world. He saw the 
incoming tide of immigration, the hordes of land speculators 
sweeping over the country. He witnessed the development of 
the railroad and telegraph, bringing his unpretentious home into 
communication with the growing and thriving marts of trade ; 
and he rejoiced, even exulted in the prospect of growing rich 
by the enhancement of land values. His children grew up 
around him, passed through the crude curriculum of " the old 
field school," and, at first, settled on subdivisions of the 
"home tract " or on easily acquired cheap lands in the neigh- 
borhood. 

But, as increasing population and a complex civilization 
augmented land values, such provisions for settling off the 
children as they grew to manhood and womanhood be- 
came more difficult. But was there not an illimitable west ? 
That at least could never be crowded; and so, as the years came 
and went, the boys, as they reached manhood's estate, began 
to vanish from beneath the parental roof to seek their fortunes 
in the mysterious and fascinating west. Still, the agriculturist 
in his eastern home, his bosom swelling with patriotic ardor and 
never dreaming that his beloved America could ever cease 
to be the asylum for the oppressed of every land, continued to 
invite the stranger to our shores — singing in the old, patriotic, 
exultant way, "Uncle Sam is rich enough to give them alia 
farm." But the civil war came, and with it the messenger of 
death to every household. Through the old revolution the 
agriculturist had carried the country safelj'^; for more than 
fifty years of almost unbroken peace he had given to that coun- 
try, by his honest toil, the materials out of which to construct 
the most marvelous industrial fabric the world had ever looked 
upon, and now^, when the war drums began to beat again, on 
both sides of the line, at what he deemed the call of dutj', he 
rushed with dauntless heroism into the thickest of the fight. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 287 

With the close of the war, we find the agriculturist again on 
the old farm — again producing wealth for the nation; but now, 
after the lapse of thirty years, he is strangely agitated. This 
patient, plodding, honest citizen who, for a hundred years or 
more, has been immovable in his stolid conservatism, is now 
heading the moving column of reform, demanding changes of 
the most radical character in our national policy. He presses 
into all our public meetings, is an active participant in party 
conventions and exhibits an absorbing interest in political 
questions. Nay, more, he has developed into a reading, think- 
ing man. He is an orator as well; and his rude and touching 
eloquence, powerful in its intense earnestness, pouring forth 
indignant protests against wrongs endured by his class, is 
stirring the hearts of the plain people as nothing has ever done 
before. 

What is the cause of this stupendous change ? There is a 
cause somewhere, and it behooves us to search it out with 
honest diligence that we may help and not hinder these brave 
and patriotic citizens. For the farmer, slow to take the first 
step, moves when he does start with immense momentum. 
The pressure of evil conditions is upon him. It is the bur- 
den of the ages, though he does not know it. After so long 
a time the burden has grown to be heavy. His bent form has 
straightened up from the plow handles. He thinks he has 
found out the cause of his suSering, He is now erect, walking 
the earth like an honest freeman, standing in the assembl}- 
of the people, exulting in his new found intellectual power. 
He is passing through the first stages of his great movement — 
those of reason and discussion. Happy for the country if his 
wrongs are righted before this stage is passed. . . . This 
man means you no harm; he would die for your right; turn to 
him a friendly side; listen to his complaints; help him to a 
remed}'. 

I wish to uncover the cause, or rather the causes, of all this 
sore distress among our farming classes, and to discuss the 
question of remedies. 

Col. ly. ly. Polk declared, before the U. S. Senate conunittee 
on Agriculture, that " in 1850 the farmers of the United States 



288 THK LIFK WORK OK THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

owned 70 per cent of the total wealth of the country," that 
" in 1860 they owned one-half of the wealth of the country," 
in 1880 "one-third of the total wealth of the country," and 
"in 1888 one-fourth of the wealth of the country." This, in 
a general way, states the condition of the agriculturists of the 
country as indicated by their degree of participation in the 
aggregate wealth production of the country for the past forty 
years or more. 

But the bulletins sent out from the census bureau afford con- 
clusive evidence that Col. Polk did not overstate the case. The 
states of Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Missis- 
sippi, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina contain 486,040 
square miles of land and are the states upon which the country 
chiefly depends " for the production of meat, grain, dairy prod- 
ucts, sugar, tobacco, cotton, rice," etc. Massachusetts, Rhotie 
Island and Connecticut, and the two states of New York and 
Pennsylvania contain 168,665 square miles of land — but little 
more than half the aggregate area of the mm states first men- 
tioned. In 1880 the population of the four northern and five 
southern states amounts to 13,409,167, while tb.at of the nine 
eastern states mentioned amounts to 14,507,407. Now, while the 
nine northern and southern states gained in wealth from 1880 but 
$559,441,974, the nine eastern states gained in the same period 
$3,054, 7()2, 722 — " more than five to one." A comparison of 
the same nine northern and southern states with the single 
state of Massachusetts discloses the fact, that the latter gained 
in wealth during the same period nearly ten million dollars 
more than the aggregate gain in wealth of all the former. Yet 
Massachusetts in 1880 had a population of only 1,783,085 as 
compared with an aggregate population of 13,409,167 in the 
nine states mentioned, and an assessed valuation of $1 ,584,- 
75(),802 as against an assessed valuation of the nine states of 
$2,792,919,155. Thus Massachusetts, with about one-fifty 
eighth the land, one-seventh the population, and but little more 
than one-half the assessed valuation, in 1880, has in ten years 
exceeded these nine great agricultural states in wealth produc- 
tion by about ten millions of dollars ! 

Now take the same nine vStates, with Kentuckv, Florida and 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 289 

Kansas thrown in, making twelve States in all, and compare 
them with Pennsylvania. Those twelve States have an area of 
667,100 square miles. In 1880 their population was 16,823,441, 
and the}' had in that year an aggregate valuation of $3,335,- 
313,124. Pennsylvania has an area of 45,215 square miles. 
In 1880 her population was 4,282,891, and her assessed 
valuation $1,683,459,016. Yet the tv/elve States in ten 
3'ears gained in wealth $897,184,160, while Pennsylvania 
gained $909,382,016. Now take these same twelve States, 
with Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia added, mak- 
ing fifteen in all, and compare them with New York alone. 
The fifteen States have an area of 776,480 square miles. New 
York alone has 49,170. The fifteen in 1880 contained a 
population of 19,996,827. New York had 5,082,871. The 
fifteen had an aggregate assessed valuation, in 1880, of $3,995, - 
169,502. New York, a valuation of $2,651,940,000. The fif- 
teen, in ten years, gained in wealth$l, 117,188,213; New York 
gained $1,123,385,982 — that is, one State gained six million 
dollars more than fifteen States. Now compare the nine North 
Atlantic States, viz. , Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Mas- 
sachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, 
and Pennsylvania, with the following twenty-one great produc- 
ing States Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missis- 
sippi, lyouisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Illi- 
nois, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Neljraska and Kansas. The 
twenty-one States contain 985,635 square miles of territory; the 
the nine, 168,665. In 1880, the twenty-one had an assessed valu- 
ation of $6,839,554,628, and the nine had $7,559,928,915. The 
twenty-one gained in ten years $1,698,195,657, and the nine, 
$3,054,762,722 — that is to say, the gain in wealth of the nine 
nearly doubled that of the twenty-one. Thus fifty -six per cent, 
of the total population of the country had obtained twenty-three 
per cent, of the total wealth gain. But this is not all. The 
census bulletins show, that the population, in 1890, of 17,401,- 
545, the nine North Atlantic States had 31,143 paupers, or 
1,790 for each million of population, 11,177 convicts, or 832, 
for each million of population, 6,746 prisoners in jails, or 389 



290 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

for each million of population, and 7,338 infants in juvenile 
reformatories, or 425 per million of population; while the 
twenty-one producing States, with 34,071,221 people, had 
33,069 paupers, or 970 to the million, 21,146 convicts in peni- 
tentiaries, or to each million 1,611; 8,747 prisoners in county 
jails or 256 to the million, and 5,345 infants in juvenile reform- 
atories, or 158 to each million. To show the contrast more 
plainly, these statistics are reduced to the following form: 

POPUIvATION. 

The 21 states in 1890 had 34,071,221 

The 9 states in 1890 had 17,401,545 

PAUPERS. 

The 21 states in 1890 had 33,069 

The 9 states in 1890 had 31,143 

CONVICTS IN PENITENTIARIES. 

The 21 stales in 1890 had 21,14fi 

The 9 states in 1890 had 14,477 

PRISONERS IN COUNTY JAII^S. 

The 21 states in 1890 had 8,747 

The 9 states in 1890 had 6,764 

INFANTS IN JUVENILE REFORMATORIES. 

The 21 states in 1890 had 5,345 

The 9 states in 1890 had 7,388 

And yet these 21 states show a gain in population during the 
ten years mentioned (from 1880 to 1890) of 5,828,299, while 
the 9 states gained only 2,894,138. 

The three states. New York, Pennsylvania and Massachu- 
setts, have of the entire population 21 per cent; of the aggre- 
gate wealth gain from 1880 to 1890, 35 per cent; of the total 
paupers in almshouses, 32 per cent; of the total convicts in 
penitentiaries, 27 per cent; of the total prisoners in county 
jails, 24 per cent; and of the total inmatesof Juvenile Reforma- 
tories, 37 per cent. New York alone, the wealthiest state in the 
union and with the greatest wealth gain, shows the greatest 
number and proportion of convicts. It is easily seen from this, 
that the great producing states of the union from which the 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 291 

nation derives its food and clothing, are at a great disadvan- 
tage from some cause; and, if the production of wealth affords 
the test by which to measure the prosperity of a country, then 
the nine states with inferior natural resources are now enjoying 
a degree of prosperity far transcending anything realized or 
likely to be realized in the 21 states whose natural resources 
greatly exceed those of any portion of the civilized world. 
And these figures show further, that where the proportional 
wealth gain has been greatest, there also is the greatest propor- 
tional increase of the dangerous, vicious and unfortunate 
classes. 

" 111 fares the land to threatening ills a prey. 
Where wealth accumulates and men decay." 

The statistics also show that the proportional gain in wealth 
in the great lumber district of the North West has largely ex- 
ceeded that in the great producing district of 21 states; for, 
while the latter has secured 56 per cent of the gain in popula- 
tion and 23 per cent of the gain in wealth, the former (lumber 
region) has obtained 7 per cent of the gain in population and 
1 2 per cent of the gain in wealth. Is it not clear from all of 
these figures, that the agricultural classes do not find, in the great 
vocation to which they have devoted themselves, that participa- 
tion in the general prosperit}^ which they have a right to expect? 
But while, in respect to the acquisition of permanent wealth, they 
are far behind other more favored classes, they are no better off 
when regarded from the standpoint of the usual income derived 
from their business; for the general decline in prices through- 
out the United States since the era of construction commenced, 
has fallen upon them with almost crushing effect. The New 
York Tribune, a few years since, by a comparison of quotations 
of 200 articles entering into general consumption, proved be- 
yond question the great decline in prices from Nov. 1, 1865, to 
the close of the year 1885. The following language occurs in 
the Tribune article: 

" It is not only clear from this comparison, that the prices in 
1885 have been the lowest in our history for twenty-five years, 
but there has been a general tendency toward lower prices. 
From 1866 to 1871 and again from 1872 until 1878, and again 



292 TH]'; IJFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

from 1882 until 1885, prices fell quite steadil}'. Indeed, had 
not the short crop of 1881 caused a temporary advance in the 
Spring of 1882, the range of January, 1880, would have 
been the highest of the later period, and it might have been 
said that the present era of declining prices had continued with 
little intermission for six years. None will fail to observe how- 
swift and sharp the advances have been, about 12 per cent from 
Nov., 1871, to May, 1875, and 25 and one-half per cent, from 
October, 1878 to January, 1880. But : >,ese spasmodic advances, 
by which the general tendency dovvnvvard is interrupted, only 
serve to make it more clear that prices have been tending irre- 
sistibly to a lower level than that of 1860, not only during the 
period of paper depreciation, but since gold has been the 
measure of value." 

The report of the Commissoiner of Agriculture for 1878 uses 
the following language with respect to the corn crop : 

' ' The average price paid by the farmer has fallen off two- 
thirds in fifteen years, being 91). 7 cents per bushel in 1867 and 
ol.8 cents in 1878. The last named crop, though greater by 
46,000,000 bu.shels than its predecessor, fell short of it |39, 000,- 
000 in aggregate value. The aggregate value of each acre's 
yield has fallen to the unprecedented low figure oi $8.55 in 1878; 
in 1864 it amounted to $30.64. The last named year was one 
of extreme money inflation." 

In 1870 every acre of wheat brought $22.7(j 

In 1890 every acre of wheat brought 8.60 

Loss per acre $14. It) 

In 1870 ever3- acre of ct)rn brought $17.75 

In 1800 every acre of corn brought 7.03 

Loss per acre $10,112 

In like manner it may be .shown that from 1S70 to 1890 there 
was a loss on every acre of rye of $12.17 ; on every acre of oats 
of $9.7() ; on every acre of barley of $12.57 ; and on every acre 
buckwheat of $10.75. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUOENT. 293 

In 1890 the farmers produced wealth to the value of. . .$2,213,402,554 
In 1890 the manufacturers produced wealth to tlie 

value of 4,232,325,442 

In 1890 the miners produced wealth to the value of . . . . 3,319,575,443 

Total wealth produced $9,765,203,449 

The farmers have invested in land, etc $14,246,070,391 

The manufacturers have invested in land, etc 2,790,272,000 

From this it may be seen that the products of each farmer 
are worth $365.00 — strikingly suggestive of $1.00 per day — 
while the products of each manufacturer are worth $4,000.00 ; 
and further, that the farmer, with more than five times the 
amount of capital invested, makes less than one-tenth of the 
inQome of the manufacturer. Thomas ly. Nugent. 



THE! LIFE WOKK OF THOMAS t. NUGENT. 295 



JUDGE NUGENT'S LETTER TO THE MERCURY. 



WITHDRAWING FROM THE RACE FOR GOVERNOR, 



Fort Worth, Texas, Nov. 28, 1895. 
Editor Mercury: 

Dear Sir — Twice have I made the race for Governor in 
response to the demand of the People's Party. I yielded to 
this demand under an imperative sense of duty to the plain 
and honest people whose confidence has been so largely and 
generously given to me. No man was ever more indebted to 
his friends than I am, and no man, I dare say, would more 
gladly make sacrifices to serve his friends than myself. But 
political leadership ought to contemplate something higher 
than service to friends. There is the service of countr}-, of the 
cause of humanity, which should command the first attention 
of him who consents to take upon himself the burdens and 
responsibilities of candidacy for high of&ce. That I might aid 
in some degree in quickening the public thought and conscience, 
so that honest and humane men might be brought to see as with 
open eyes the social injustice which puts unnatural burdens 
upon the thrift and industry of the country; that T might be 
able to show how poverty might be banished from our social 
system and comfort and happiness brought to the door of every 
industrious man; and that I might by means of the opportuni- 
ties afforded by political discussions be able to point out the 
remedies which alone can bring about these conditions, con- 
stituted with me the only excuse or justification for entering 
the field of politics. . Possibly I hoped for too much. If so, 
my only excuse is, that many years of study and reflection had 
so aroused my sense of the wrong heaped upon the humbler 



29fi THE LIFE WORK OE THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

classes of our citizens, that I seemed incessantly to hear their 
cries of distress, and was thus impelled to attempt more than 
my physical strength or the occasion justified. Be that as it 
may, I have reached the limit beyond which I cannot now go, 
and my duty to the noble men who have supported me so stead- 
fastly in the past, and who have given me unmistakable evi- 
dence of a desire to support me in the future, requires that I 
announce my complete withdrawal from politics. My broken 
health demands this course. I have no doubt that I shall 
regain my accustomed health and strength in due time, but it 
seems to me, that with respect to my attitude in the coming 
campaign, nothing ought to be left in a state of uncertainty. 
Besides, I must for several months to come have rest — rest par- 
ticularly from the excitements and burdens inseparable from 
participation in political work. This is the price I must pay 
for my life. But in taking this step, I wish to say to the reform- 
ers of Texas, that I shall carry in my heart always the deepest 
sympathy and affection for them, and gratefully remember the 
unwavering support which, from my entrance into political life 
initil now, they have given me. 

T. h. Nugent. 



THE LIFE Vv'ORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 207 



Letters. 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTER TO HIS BROTHER. MARCH 11. 1873, 

You ask me what church I attend. I answer, all 
the churches alike. Swedenborg has taught me to see more 
clearly than ever how scriptural is the doctrine which my par- 
ents taught me, that no church was exclusively the key to 
Heaven, and that all must finally enter the lyord's kingdom 
who live in the love and practice of the truth. I, therefore, 
am pretty much at home with all the denominations, since I 
am fully instructed in the blessed truths which enable me to 
sift the ' ' chaff from the wheat. " If others err I have no right 
to quarrel with them, though I may deplore their errors. The 
New Church, viewed from the standpoint of Swedenborg, is 
not in spirit a church of controversy and disputation, but a 
church in which the Lord Jesus Christ is loved and worshiped 
as the only true and living God, and in which charity and 
good works form the cement that binds and unites the brother- 
hood into the subject of Swedenborgianism. Indeed, my first 
convictions grow stronger every day. 

I would by all means, if I were you, avoid becoming exclu- 
sive in my views of theology. By this I do not mean that you 
should be too reckless in your thinking; nor would I willingly 
urge you to change your theological views. These are matters 
with reference to which every one should indulge his own hon- 
est inclination. For my part, I began to doubt Methodistic 
teachings many years before I heard of Swedenborg, and my 
final adoption of New Church theology was the result 
of long-continued, anxious and earnest inquiry. You may 
rest satisfied of one thing ; we are on the eve of a 



298 THK UfE WOKK OF THOMAS t. NtJGfiNT. 

crisis in religious matters, and the admonition from on 
high will come to you, as well as to all other earnest men. 
Be prepared to obey the divine voice when it speaks to 
your heart, without regard to your preconceptions of theology. 
Hold yourself so loosely bound to any given church, that when 
God calls you away from it, you can stand aloof without too 
much torture to your heart. All things, churches included, are 
ordained for ends of use; when the use is accomplished, the 
mere external forms are then in a condition to crumble to 
decay. 

I much prefer to know that men are keeping 

themselves "unspotted from the world," and doing- good. 
Good principles implanted in the heart, and ultimating them- 
selves in the practical charities of life, furnish to my mind the 
best basis upon which to predicate a hope for human salvation. 
I have grown somewhat suspicious of much of the preaching I 
hear. It falls dull and lifeless upon my ear, and in many cases 
has very much the sound of theological ' ' cymbals. ' ' When I 
know that the widow's heart has been comforted, the orphan's 
tear dried, and the pillow of the sick man smoothed and soft- 
ened, I feel that God is present in the world carrying on to a 
blessed consummation his wise and beneficent purposes. This 
is the theology of love, however, and it has but little show 
while the religious interests of society are committed to clashing 
creeds and warring sects. Yet, out of all of this confusion and 
discord, God will evoke good, and as I suggested, I am firmly 
impressed with the belief that the time is rapidly approaching 
when some decisive work will be done in this direction. May 
God keep you faithful to your appointed itse, and hold you 
ready to answer his Divine call. 

Your affectionate brother, 

T. L. NUOKNT. 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTER TO HIS BROTHER, SEPT, 16, 1873, 

Dear Brother — Your letter of the oth inst. reached 
me only a few moments .since. The intelligence it conveyed 



*fttK turn WORK 01^'^ THOMAS t,. NUGENT. 299 

of our dear mother's departure to the other world, would, as 
you would say, have been overpowering, if it did not bring 
with it the consolation of knowing that death has released her 
from her sufferings here and transported her to her reward in 
Heaven. It has been to me a source of deep and painful 
regret that during her protracted sufferings, circumstances pre- 
vented me from seeking her bedside and ministering to her 
consolation. But it is inexpressibly comforting to me to know 
that though precluded from discharging this last filial duty, 
yet the love which cherished me in infancy and guided my 
faltering footsteps through the perilous periods of my youth, 
suffered no abatement in death, but will survive in the other 
world to enhance the joys of a reunion with my dear old mother 
where no harrowing separations can ever come. Our une- 
qiialled parents have done their work well; they leave to us, 
their sorrowing children, what is more to be prized than silver 

or gold — the example of well spent lives 

. . . How ardent should be our gratitude and how firm 
our resolution to do good, when we reflect that through all 
the difl&cult and trying years of the past, the lives of our 
parents were one long, continued sacrifice freely offered up for 

the welfare of their children 

(Still, pursuing his religious views, he adds:) 
Indeed, my convictions on this subject have, during the past 
few years, become fully settled and fixed. Christianity is to- 
day more attractive, more glorious and more comforting to me 
than it was ten years ago. I am aware that you do not sympa- 
thize with many views, which through much travail of soul I 
have been led to adopt. But it is a truth, nevertheless, that the 
doctrine of our Savior, and the extent and efiicacy of his atone- 
ment, have presented themselves to my mind, through the S3's- 
tern I have embraced, with greatly enhanced value. I have 
such a realizing sense of the nearness of the other world that 
at times, when heavenly meditations fill my mind and the 
sweet songs of Zion give expression to my emotions, I almost 
fancy I can hear the musical voices of the invisible ones, and 
see the loving presence of some guardian angel. Ah, dear 
brother, these views make me a better man and enlarge my 



300 TTDv IJFp: work OV THOMAS L. NUOTWT. 

desires, and quicken my aspirations for lieaven. I exult in the 
thought that when death tears away the curtain and ushers me 
into that world of realities, I will leave behind me forever the 
obscurities and clogs of this existence and pursue my own 
proper use in the unimpaired exercise of all my faculties. And, 
oh, what joy, when to this is added the thought that all my 
ways will then be unerringly directed by the fatherly care and 
love of God — that no false direction of my conduct will ever 
supervene to add the pangs of remorse to my existence ! 

Thomas L. Nugent. 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTER TO HIS BROTHER, FEB. 9. 1881. 

By a divine, spiritual law, whatever we /ore we .do, 
and by doing what we /ove we learn to love it all the more. 
Naturally our sensual natures incline us to love evil; by dohio- 
evil, therefore, our love becomes, so to speak, embodied in it, 
and evil is thus implanted in and becomes a part of the life; 
Indeed, the love of a man is his life, and the human being is 
ever seeking to embody his love in external forms of his own 
creation. Hence, in a very striking and truthful sense, the his- 
tory of a man is only the external history of love — the state- 
ment of those modes of action in which his love has found ulti- 
mate embodiment and expression. Now, God implants in the 
interior life of a man a prompting to do good, and, providen- 
tially, gives him every moment of his existence, the capacity or 
power to carry this prompting into external action. But this 
capacity or power, when set in motion, must remove obstruct- 
ing evils in the " carnal mind," before it can become crystal- 
lized in the external life. To remove those evils, man must 
learn to know that they are evils, and this knowledge he 
acquires by the ' ' word ' ' which has been ' ' spoken ' ' to us. 
By means of the atonement, God has established such relations 
with man that the latter is always in possession of the power to 
obey; by the written Word man may know hozv\o obey. Hence 
it is that bj' Christ, or the power and knowledge derived from 



THE LIFK WORK OK THOMAS h. NUGENT. oOl 

Him, we may conquer the sensual nature and give full effect to 
the law of the " inward man." St. Paul saw all this when he 
said, " I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but 
I see another law in m}^ members warring against the law 
of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, 
zvhich is in viy members. O wretched man that I am, who shall 
deliver me from the body of this death? I ihank God through 
Jesus Christ, our Lord.''^ This is immediately succeeded by 
that chapter that begins, " There is, therefore, now no condem- 
nation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who zvalk not 
after the flesh but after the spirit." By walking after 
the spirit, I understand obeying the Divine command- 
ment in the law of the spirit. What, therefore, is the 
sum of the whole matter ? It is this, simply and only 
this: I^et him who would make his way to Heaven learn, 
in the light of the Divine Word, to know his evils and then let 
him shun those evils as sins against the Lord, always trusting 
in the Lord and invoking His Divine assistance, and always 
recognizing the fact that the power to do this is the gift of God, 
and thus of pure grace. Man, left to himself, would inevitably 
plunge into hell; co-operating with and trusting in God, he 
may by grace ascend to the highest Heaven. But I did not 
intend writing at such length. I love these blessed truths, and 
often feel a consuming desire to give them to others; since I 
know they come to every man who receives them in the right 
spirit and puts them into practice, freighted with blessedness 
and immortalit}'. 

May God bless you, my dear brother, and lead you always 
in the true and right way. . . 

Your devoted brother, 

T. L. Nugent. 

P. S. My wife .sends her love to you all. She is with me 
in my views of the truth, and together we are trying to do the 
Lord's work. My daughter, Emma, .says also to give you her 
love. 

T. L. N. 



302 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

EXTRACTS FROM A LETTER TO HIS BROTHER, JAN, 2. 1883, 

Discussing the ministry, he says : 

"There is a class who have caught the Divine inspiration, 
among whom charity is more than faith, and the Hfe more than 
dogma. These love humanity more than the church because their 
souls sympathize with the oppressed and toiling men and women 
around them * and entering into such sympathy, they feel but 
lightly the mere creed or church. Of course for such preach- 
ers, men and women of the more earnest and unselfish sort 
have a most cordial fellow-feeling, and this it is that makes 
them successful in spite of the church — successful in earning a 
support and in the far nobler work of serving God in serving 
humanity. I trust you will ever seek to make such a preacher. 
Beware of becoming an ecclesiastic — let freedom and rationality 
combine with love for Christ and humanity to shape and mould 
your character and life. To be chiircJily wise only is to draw a 
thick veil over the interior nature — to shut it ofi" from the light 
of heaven which is the light of real truth. The "hateful 
ecclesiastical proprium," as one has justly called it — that is, the 
individual selfhood which the love of church rules — has been in 
all time and is yet the great enemy of humanity, the unrelent- 
ing foe of science, philosophy and true religion. It has given 
rise to the clannishness of the churches and church members — 
the stupid conceit which makes them impervious to all reason 
and too often to all genuine charity. This clannishness springs 
from the unconscious and deadly persuasion that one's creed is 
the final expression of Divine truth, and that one's church is the 
perfect embodiment of Divine providence, the scheme of schemes 
for human salvation. Alas! it too often simulates true charity 
in the exterior, while its baleful fantasies hide the interior de- 
pravity of the heart from conscious recognition. Until one 
breaks through the delusions which it spreads over the heart 
and mind, he can never be brought to realize the depth of his 
inbred depravity. Then onl)' can he be brought to perceive and 
feel that he is a brother to harlots and murderers and thieves. 
Then only can he understand why the Lord had such a fellow- 
feeling for " publicans and sinners." Look abroad over the 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 308 

face of humanity and learn to realize that your mission is not 
only to preach to those who pay quarterage and crowd the 
temple of worship, but as well to the debased, the lame, the 
blind who slink away from sight in the world's dark alleys and 
corners. Cultivate, in other words, the sentiment of humanity, 
and thus will your mind enlarge to embrace the truth of human- 
ity, which is the truth of God. 

Ever since Adam fell, — that is since man receded from the 
spiritual into the natural and became immersed in the sensual 
and external — God has been moving down to his low plane to 
reach and save him. Thus, in the fullness of time. Divine 
evolution produced the miracle of the incarnation — God revealed 
by fleshly assumption in the sphere of man's ultimate nature. 
Thus God has put on humanity — clothed Himself with it, and 
thus by His spirit, or emanating sphere of operation. He is 
enabled to quicken and save humanity. Thus the Divine Logos 
in the person of Christ becomes the Divine Natural Humanit)^, 
and the humanized spirit of God pours its regenerating streams 
of love and grace into the centers of man's thought and affec- 
tion. For you must know that the "holy ghost was not 
given " during Christ's natural or earthly life, because " Jesus 
was not yet glorified." The merely natural personality 
(Jesus Christ) must be glorified, that is made Divine, before 
the Divine Spirit could be evolved into the sphere of human 
life. This, dear brother, is the truth of truths — the central 
arcanum, the ineffable mystery of Godliness. To master it in 
all its transcendent significance is to know the whole of 
Christianity, and, to enter by experience into its deep, practical 
sequences, one must of necessity enter into that larger love and 
sympathy for humanity which no earth-born Church can ever 
give. May your soul take in the sublime truth more and more 
as your work advances, until, like a Divine rainbow, it shall 
irradiate your whole intellectual horizon. 

You ask if my wife is a Methodist. She was once^ but she 
has for years believed as I do. Together we have been seeking 
to do the Lord's will — to love him above all things, and to 
carry that love down into practical life by serving our fellow 
creatures as we have opportunity. With each other we are 



304 THK LI.FK WORK OF THOMAS h. NUGKNT. 

satisfied — only praying that God may enable us while in the 
flesh to lovingly join our hearts and hands in the work of doing 
good to others, as we are surely happy in serving and loving 
each other 

. . . . Your namesake is a splendid boy. My wife says 
she can vouch for his making a first class man, and when she 
says this, she almost always adds, " He looks like you," (me). 
Of course she loves to flatter me a little; but isn't it better so? 

I sincerely hope that Divine Providence maj'' bring us 
together before we pass to the other side. Let us both hope 
that it may come about 

Your boy has a practical way of looking at, the vocation of a 
preacher. 

(Note — The boy had said he did not want to be a preacher 
because they never had an money.) 

His idea that preachers have no money, if not original, is at 
least borne out by general observation and experience. Let us 
hope, however, that if he does become a preacher, he may be 
one of the exceptions 

. . . . After all ' ' God takes little count of our petty limita- 
tions," says one, and I do not doubt that in the end man^^ of the 
theatre-going Episcopalians will be found to have possessed the 
saving principle of charity. One cannot judge of interior quali- 
ties from the mere surface life, and I have little doubt that, as 
a rule, confirmation in the Episcopal Church means fully as 
much as conversion in the Methodist. Both signify but little in 
themselves. God does not limit his divine operation to either 
method; but "gives to all men freely," whether in or out of 
the churches. In so far as men receive him, by receiving into 
their hearts the love of helping others to useful and better 
lives, they are accepted of him, even though they never rent a 
church pew, or rend the heavens witli camp-meeting songa 

I am now at home, enjoying my two month's vacation with 
my family. I read to my wife, look after my stock and farm, 
and have my daughters to enliven the family circle every day 
with music. Both of my girls perform well on llie piano. Thus 
you see, I am leading quite a peaceful life just now. 

My wife and I do not attend church, but have good reading, 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS h. NUGENT. 305 

and enjoy our privileges in that way more highly than preach- 
ing, though we are not inclined to deprive those of the latter 
who get help or comfort from it. 

Your affectionate brother, 

T. ly. Nugent. 



Stephenville, Erath Co., Texas, Jan. 2, 1884. 
Afy Dear Brother: 

Your long letter of 26th ult. was received on yesterday 
evening and has been read again and again with pleasure and 
satisfaction — and yet with a degree of pain. My brief postal 
had no reference to Methodism specially, but to the Church 
generally — the institutional Christianity of our times. Indeed, 
even with ecclesiasticism I have no quarrel; since reaching my 
present plane of belief, I have come more fully into the truth 
that the light of heaven is but dimmed by controversy and 
one's perception of spiritual things only darkened by discussion. 
In the quiet thoughtfulness of the soul alone can we see the 
truth in its human relation; and even then it will dwindle into 
thin intellectuality unless we carry it into human activities. It 
is not difficult to think ourselves into the great race-heart, but 
it becomes a crucifixion when we throw ourselves into the 
rushing current of actual life and endeavor to break with our 
poor fellow-man the bread which the Lord so freely gives to 
us — particularly when our bread is so apt to be called a stone. 
This opening of the soul Godward and manward at the same 
time — -this receiving from above only that we may send forth 
what we get in loving benefactions to our kind — requires some- 
thing more than Church, or Creed, or Sacrament. Above all, 
it requires a heart thoroughly honest with itself, with God and 
the fellow-man. Few of us can stand up in pure, heaven-born 
manhood and say, meaning fully what we say: " Here, Lord, 
am I. Take me, fill my heart with thy spirit and my brain 
with thy truth, and use me, oh! use me as thou wilt in human 
service." Is it not true that most of us would shrink when the 
Divine voice bade us seek the vilest and lowest, whom even the 



o06 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

churches pass by, in our eflforts to uplift and save ? Is it not 
true, that when society frowns, the churches slink away in ab- 
ject cowardice ? Now mark you, I do not deny that the 
churches, one and all, are doing in the main a good work for 
vast multitudes of men. Mahomedanism destroyed idolatry in 
a large portion of the East; and Methodism, in directing the 
love and worship of its votaries to Jesus and insisting on the 
surrender of the human to the Divine will, has been the means 
of giving to the world its nearest approach to the Divine ideal 
of worship and service — that is, the nearest possible under 
orthodox forms. Again, many loving hearts in all the 
churches are agonizing in spirit over God's fallen human crea- 
tures, and seeking by devoted lives to reclaim and save the.n. 
But this only proves that God is working in the churches, or in 
receptive natures within the churches. It does not show that 
the churches are good for me, or that my duty takes me to them 
to find my way to the human world around me. If I can reach 
men as I am, and better as I am, and hear no Divine voice 
calling me to a church, why should I not remain as I am? I 
do not discredit the churches or their work. They are good to 
others on their plane. I do not * ' invalidate ' ' the experience 
of their members — that is, of those of them who have experi- 
ence. Often while trying causes in the Court room, listening 
to ' ' weary lawyers with endless tongues ' ' until the wrangling 
seems akin to that " weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth " 
we read of — the sphere of the lyord envelops me, and I knoiv 
of the Heavenly presence which loves to manifest itself in the 
places, all the places, where duty seeks embodiment in human 
service. Can I, to whom God reveals himself thus lovingly, — 
unworthy, undeserving I, — invalidate the "experiences" of 
our dear mother, whose grand, though humble life, I reverently 
worship, and whose devotion to duty was a better proof of the 
divinity of Christianity than even her experience — better in the 
degree in which it more fully authenticated the claims of 
Christianity to the actual apprehension of others? No, I 
vdXwQ experience ■a!Qo\Q qxqqA or Church; but I only claim for 
myself the right to stand aloof from organizations, that nothing 
may be between me and such human work as God may in my 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. o07 

humble sphere give me — to look in the open face of truth, and 
not be compelled to contemplate her ineffable beauty and glor}- 
through the veils which institutions and dogmas throw around 
her. No, I had rather have one open and free vision of the 
truth, than \.o partially see her for a ivhole life time through the 
dogmatics of any Church — Methodist, Presbyterian, Sweden- 
borgian, or what not. 

The important thing is to be honest — always honest and sin- 
cere. Intellectually we cannot all see alike. We are, I trust, 
all advancing in a measure. What we regard as truth to-day 
may seem but fantasy to-morrov^'': ''Partial truth is inferential 
falsity." A germ of truth is dropped into the human under- 
standing. Our warped and perverted natures begin to reason 
about it, to sift, to analyze it. Pretty soon it grows into a 
plant, whose leaves and fruit may, indeed, nourish and sustain 
many, but they will at the same time sustain the evil with the 
good ; and when its law of reproduction has operated through 
man}' generations of plants, the original germ can hardly be 
known from leaf and bough that spread themselves to the sun. 
So Christ dropped his truth into obedient, loving spirits— the 
germ truth. It has carried the world — the human world — up- 
ward in the long spiritual evolution. State after state has been 
unfolded ; church after church has arisen and passed away ; 
but the spiritual evolution has never ceased. AVhat our fore- 
fathers believed in and died for we repudiate and deny. So 
those coming after us may smile at our credulity, or wonder at 
our ignorance. Thus in the present day some believe Sweden- 
borg, some Wesley, !5ome Campbell, .some Calvin, etc. Each 
occupies his own plane and cannot by any long stride reach 
another. He must slowly thread his way, through perilous 
quicksands, it may be, but his true place will be reached just 
as he is pressed forward by God's Divine law of evolution, op- 
erating in strict harmony witli his free agency. We cannot 
force ourselves forward ; we must only follow the light as it is 
given to the slow-opening but darkened human understanding. 
Thus each in his place has partial truth, each has inferential 
falsehood — all must finally occupy common ground and share 
in a common life when evolution has reached its climax and 



H08 THE UFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

God's purpose stands finally revealed. Just now the plant of 
Christianity but poorly reveals the germ from which it grew — 
that is, reveals it to zis. The Lord, however, sees it; and while 
the fruiting is often bitter and unsavory, the dead limbs will 
fall before the Divine pruning knife, and that germ will stand 
fully revealed in the final product of the ages. But to drop 
the figure, human falsehood will prove to be but differing 
phases of human development, through which Christ's word 
has been pressing the race to a realization of its perfect des- 
tiny — the fruition of its largest hope and its deepest aspiration. 
But you don't understand the law of correspondences. No 
wonder. A comprehension of this law involves the understand- 
ing of the order of creation — a vast philosophy, too big for the 
explication which may be crowded within the limits of a letter 
— a philosophy utterly transcending the mere thought of the 
times. You have Swedenborg's " Divine Life and Wisdom ? " 
Begin with this — it contains the Divine clue which can be fol- 
lowed out through other books including the one you mention, 
until the thought becomes luminous with wonderous light — 
luminous to the core. But read as a philosopher — in the 
spirit of the whole-souled truth-seeker — not as you would study 
dogmatic theolog}^ which is killing to the philosophic .spirit. 
Swedenborg did not repudiate the literal facts of the external 
history of Christ. In these he believed; but he regarded them 
as occupying a subordinate position. The mere groiiping of 
them together in a narrative form was only important in so far 
as it served the purpose of spiritual instruction. The great 
object was to show God incarnated to the world of fallen men; 
but this must be done in such manner as to reach all, and fully 
unfold the laws of regeneration. Matthew takes certain facts 
in Christ's history and weaves them into the form of a biography 
— so with Mark and John. But in the arrangement of the nar- 
rative, the order and'sequence of time is not always regarded ; 
nor is there always apparent harnion}' in the statements of the 
several narrations. Each author was himself representative, 
and selected only such facts as served to teach the phase or 
degree of truth which he represented and taught. Hence the 
literal discrepancies wliich appear in the several histories are 



THE I.IFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 809 

not only unobjectionable, but they were necessary to the Divine 
plan. Of course, in certain statements they all of them agree; 
but these statements were necessarily common to the whole 
scheme of truth. Every statement is thus seen to be essential; 
while, if the literal sense is the only one, many statements 
would appear, to say the least, unnecessary. Assuredly that 
Christ "went up into the mountain to pray," if stated as a 
mere external fact, could not be very important to the human 
race. It certainly added little to the stock of human know- 
ledge. But understood as a declaration intended to symbolize 
in part the long train of experiences through which the Son of 
Man was passing in the work of glorifying the humanity and 
thus making the salvation of men possible, it becomes altogether 
Divine and thus full of significance. But all this is seen and 
understood in the light of correspondences. 

Your complaint that Svvedenborg too much exalts doctrine, 
is not well founded; nor will it appear so when you reflect that 
he did not seek to found a sect, but simply to formulate and 
teach truth— and to do this, he simply addressed the world of 
thoughtful men in the spirit and formal manner of the philoso- 
pher. But it was of the essence of his plan to show men that 
"all religion is of the life," and that the law of use is funda- 
mental in all of God's creation. He pursues this one plan 
through all of his numerous theological works, and by number- 
less arguments and illustrations — indeed by all of his vast 
philosophy, seeks to set forth this idea of life as the essence of 
all religions. So much is this the case, that he says repeatedly 
that those whose lives have been good readily throw off errors 
of belief in the other life, while the evil in life alone find it 
impossible to change their beliefs there. Thus the sincere Catho- 
lic, believing in the Pope, yet, because of his good life, easily 
receives the truth, while those who have been most enlightened 
here, if evil, soon immerse themselves in the most horrible 
fantasies, even to the utter denial of the Lord. Thus it is that 
in tlie other life, "unto him that hath shall be given and he 
shall have abundance, but from him that hath not, shall be 
taken away even that which he hath." But after all, can it be 
said that doctrine is not ''' vital f Does not doctrine enter into 



310 THE LITE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

one's life and make it necessary that in the hereafter he should 
somehow, have his errors taken from him ? If Calvinism is 
dishonoring to God, can it exist in heaven as a belief? Surely 
not; and although the good lose their errors of belief, they 
only do so sometimes after the divine love has taken them 
through the chastening of fiery discipline. Exalted experi- 
ence may co-exist with the wildest phantasies of belief. L,ook 
at Fenlon and Mrs. Guyon, deemed by Wesley worthy of be- 
ing held up as examples to the primitive Methodists. Do their 
deep spiritual experiences throw any light on poper3^; and does 
the denial of their creed invalidate their experiences ? You 
will answer, no. So I may repudiate my mother's creed, but 
still do honor to her experience. But j'ou ask, "Does Sweden- 
borgianism make one egotistic or opinionated ?" I answer yes, 
frequently — just as Methodism, Presbyterianism, and all other 
isms do. I think if I were asked where I had witnessed the 
coarsest and most offensive displays of egotism, I should have 
no hesitation in saying, in the pulpit. It is unfortunate that it 
is so, but the truth must be told. The ego is largely in creeds, 
churches and preachers; and Swedenborgians must come in for 
their share of the condemnation vv^hich awaits all alike for this 
sin. Holcombe, though devout and pious, is, I fear, to a great 
extent inflated. He has begun to speak and write ex-cathedra, 
and this always proves an open door to the corrupt and subtle 
human selfhood. How glad I am that the day is approaching 
when the Lord shall take place of teacher once more, and poor, 
weak men shall all alike learn to be pupils at his knee. Be 
assured, it is coming to this, and the happy day would come all 
the sooner if men, irrespective of church or creed, could only 
learn the divine lesson of honesty and simplicity in thought 
and speech. But this lesson, fully learned and made a living 
reality, involves the restoration of childhood to the man; but 
when childhood knocks at the human door for admittance, 
proprium rises to shut down the latch and bar its entrance. 
And as proprium, that is, the evil selfhood, is not confined to 
any church, it manifests itself quite impartially in all. But I 
must make an end to this letter. When I get on these topics, 
so grateful to my heart, my thought goes on spinning its threads 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. oil 

until I am apt to forget that others are not .so deeply interested 
as myself. Have you ever read Geo. MacDonald's novels? 
They are deeply spiritual, and I have derived much comfort 
and many clear views of the truth from some of them. His 
"Robert Falconer' ' would delight you, and I advise you to read 
it if you have not already done so. I tried to get "Paul 
Faber, Surgeon," at our book store to send you, but it was not 
on hand. I intend sending it to you when it can be procured. 
You will find it a gem of real religious literature, exquisitely 
soothing and mellowing to the feelings and quickening to the 
thought. My wife joins me in love to you and yours, 
lyovingly, your brother, 

T. L,. Nugent. 



EXTRACT FROM LETTER TO HIS BROTHER. FEB, 6, 1885, 

A/y Dear Brother: 

Your two letters have remained unanswered a long time. 
When they came I was engaged in active work on the circuit, 
and postponed replying until my vacation commenced. When 
I returned home from the circuit, I found a mass of letters 
awaiting me, and I had to work this off my hand and take my 
son, Clarence, off to school before getting to your letters. 
Well, I have reached them at last and scarcelj' know now 
how to begin a reply — especially to the last. Many years of 
thought and study, both in the domain of the law and of relig- 
ious literature, have taught me the inutility of speculation and 
developed a tendency in my mind to subject all doctrines to 
purely practical tests. Use is the law of the universe — the pivot 
upon which its vast operations hinge. The Master Himself had 
nothing of the mere theorist about Him, and while teaching 
" heavenly things " to the men of this world, was chiefly con- 
cerned about making His truths fruitful in good to the human 
creatures whom He came to " seek and save." Swedenborg 
touched the core of the whole matter, when he said, "All 
religion is of the life, and the life of religion is to do goody It 



ol2 THE LIFE WORK OK THOIVIAS L. NUGENT. 

is idle to multiply theories on so simple a subject. Unselfish 
service of the fellow-man is of the essence of all vital piety; and 
the means by which Providence leads men to engage in such 
service are as various as the temperaments and dispositions of 
men themselves. It took a great light from heaven to arrest 
the attention of St. Paul, while the love that thrilled the breast 
of John as he heard the spoken word from the Lord's lips, may 
have sufficed to start him in the way of consecrated obedience. 
How or in what manner the Lord first induces the fallen crea- 
ture to turn his face heavenward, is a matterthat we may safely 
leave in the Lord's hands. It is a small fault, therefore, if 
fault it be, that MacDonald seems to trace the inception of the 
regenerate life in all his leading characters to some temporal 
calamity or disappointment. The important fact is, that his 
novels uniformly inculcate the important lesson, that regenera- 
tion grows out of a life of loyal devotion to the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Nor is the value of the lesson at all diminished by 
the fact that it does not come to us in homely, " grammar-kill- 
ing ' ' speech. Aesthetic refinement and sentiment are, to be 
sure, not the all of religion, but then religion need not be taught 
to taboo them for that reason. It is needful that we walk softly 
here. The forms of beauty and glory which enter so largely 
into the order of the visible creation and in which the Divine 
Majesty delights to veil His operations in outward manifestation, 
should warn us against too much haste in passing judgment 
upon the fine culture in which religious sentiment and truth 
blossom forth to human fruitfulness. The spiritual evolution 
of the race proceeds through all cultures and refinements — 
transcending all crude, incomplete and useless forms of thought 
and speech, as men through receptive and heroic natures receive 
and outgive the Lord's truth to their fallen fellow creatures. 
Thus it is that human thought is more than a century in 
advance of the thought of Wesley's time — // has evolved to a 
higher plane. 

The pulpit, thank God, no longer resounds with boister- 
ous maledictions; nor does the current religious literature have 
much to say of an eternal fire and a wrathful God. Calls to 
repentance sound more like the beseechings of the Father borne 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUCIKNT. 813 

in words of love to the sin-sick soul. MacDonald has caught the 
spirit of the new age, and seeks to give it expression in char- 
acters exhibiting the fragrance and sweetness of loving and 
useful lives. He takes the life and works of Christ and en- 
deavors to show how human lives should embody them. He 
particularly strives to get rid of those theological misinterpre- 
tations and accommodations which rob the Lord's words of 
their full meaning, insisting, all the time, that those words mean 
what they literally import, and that their Divine significance 
can only be known to one who gives to them an honest and 
unstinted obedience. Thus in ' ' Donald Grant ' ' he gives us 
a character which strikingly illustrates how the highest type of 
the Christian hero can only be reached by conforming to that 
Divine precept, "resist not evil " — a strong, athletic man, 
possessing his full share of animal courage and impulse, yet 
submitting to be buffeted and derided by ignoble creatures, 
simply because the Lord so willed that he should do. When 
romance thus leads theology and points out the way to abso- 
lute self-surrender, even to the point of submitting to blows for 
righteousness' sake, do you not think we may afford to welcome 
the refined sentiment and culture which accompanies the sub- 
lime lesson ? Now we cannot purchase salvation by works of 
merit. Meritorious ^ox\ls 2iXQ. uo'i good viork.s; to add voluntary 
submission to evil will avail us nothing, if we depend upon it as 
something entitling us to salvation. Hence Swedenborg con- 
stantly teaches that evils are to be shunned as sins against the. 
Lord. Obey God simply because he commands us to obey, 
looking to him always for help and realizing the fact that we 
have no good in ourselves and cannot obtain any by any pro- 
cess of spiritual buying ; this is the practical truth underlying 
the philosophy of redemption. Loyal and faithful service is 
what the Lord seeks from His creatures, and this any man can 
render, whether he ever have an experience or not. It is not 
experience of the witnessing spirit that saves, but the Divine 
word literally and honestly applied to the life and obeyed. 
The fault of Methodism consists in the fact that it makes 
salvation to depend on an experience, and by logical implica- 
tion remands ninety-nine hundredths of the human beings on this 



314 THE LIFE WORK OE THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

globe over to the uncovenanted mercies of God. To be sure, 
it is said of the Gentiles who follow the flickering light of their 
untaught consciences, that they ' ' having not the law are a law 
unto themselves:" but it is poor logic that does not enable 
one to apprehend the fallacy involved in the admission. For 
if regeneration is a single act of spiritual cleansing, contingent 
upon the exercise of faith in Christ as a meritorious savior 
whose obedience " unto death " has satisfied the law of Divine 
justice, how can such regeneration grow out of conformity to 
merely moral standards of doctrine which excludes Christ and his 
atonement altogether f Or has God laid down one plan of sal- 
vation for the Christian and a totally different one for the hea- 
then ? If in Christendom the moral character, invohdng all 
social and humane virtues, cannot be depended upon for the 
attainment of salvation, how can such character be depended 
on in the pagan world? To be sure, your " orthodoxy" 
requires you to enter an apology right here ; since, fortunately, 
humanity is greater than creed, and the benevolent heart will 
not down with its good sympathies at the behest of man's 
riotous and fantasy-ridden intellect. 

No, my brother, regeneration is not an act of instantaneous 
mere}'. The prayer of faith may bring an experience in a 
moment — a sweet, pervading peace that "passeth understand- 
ing," or a joy that is "unspeakable and full of glory." But the 
building tip of a good character, the cleansing that is implied 
in the process of regeneration, is the slow growth of years. It 
is akvays attended with severe trials, combats with multiplied 
evils, and frequently physical and temporal afflictions. For, 
' 'whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son 
whom he receiveth." It is doubtless often the case, that the 
commencement of the new religious life dates from the sudden, 
happy experience of the mourner's bench; but this proves 
nothing. However far from the sight this great joy may, for 
the time, push the evil selfhood, the fierce encounter must come 
at last, when sin arrays its awful forces to compass the ruin of 
the soul thus started in the regenerate life. Henceforth for 
that soul there is a full measure of chastening, until it enters 
into rest. I am often surprised at the self-complacent assur- 



THE LIFE WORK OP THOMAS L. NUCxENT. 315 

ance with which some people talk of knozving themselves to be 
born again-no fear, no donbt. Yet many of these very people 
are no better than the average good men and women of the 
world if the ordinary tests of good character be applied to 
them; and besides, they are often heard, in experience meet- 
ings to talk of donbts and gloom that take away all their joy. 
By far the most devout and spiritual minded pastor of the Metho- 
dist Church whom we have ever had here, once told me that he 
had never reached a state in which he was without doubt on the 
question of the soul's immortality. •••'••• °!^ 
I do not doubt there is a state of "perfect love which casteth 
out all/mr," nor do I doubt that the young convert, while the 
flame of his first joy is burning brightly, would yield up his 
life with a blessed assurance of salvation. But, while this is 
freely admitted, it is fatal to teach that this happiness or joy 
is the evidence of full salvation. It is not well to talk too much 
of knowlncr what one's spiritual state may be, or of knowing 
what futm-e lot awaits him. The Lord certainly meant what 
he said— "The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou heareth 
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither 
it croeth So is every one that is born of the spirit. ' ' Indeed, 
it could not be otherwise. Note the language, -born of the 
spirit " in regeneration. The -m;^ of truth received into the 
will and ultimated in a life of faithful obedience, grows up into 
the full svmmetrical christian character-the new man. Ihis 
is spirilual generation-reztn<^rQXion-\.he second birth. _ 

Now no man can know of the' hidden processes by which 
this growth is attained-no one can judge of its varying, often 
subtle phases-no one but God alone. Yet it goes on day and 
ni-ht with or without experience, whether joy or sorrow abound. 
Sttll I would not undervalue experience, and therefore think that 
all may reach that stage in the ascending religious life where 
peace and joy are the settled habitudes of the spirit, and where 
all fear is dissolved in love. The failure to teach this clearly as a 
present and possible privilege for all, is the cardinal defect of 
Swedenborgian preaching. Hence I do not regard the so-called 
New Church very highly. It is a small ecclesiasticism centered 
around a high system of spiritual philosophy, but possessing 



316 THE I.IFK WORK OK THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 

little of the genuine inspiration of an unselfish, vital religion. 
I am, in other words, in no sense orthodox, and I am devoutlj' 
thankful that it is so. Orthodoxy throws a blight over the 
whole intellectual man, and precludes a .normal, free evolution 
of the faculties. The most morbid of creatures are the devotees 
who yield an unquestioning obedience to church authority — or 
indeed, any authority but that of incarnate God. 

The grossest superstitions and the most unnatural restrictions 
of all the ages have grown out of that ' ' devout self-con.scious- 
ness" which hierarchies have such a fatal tendency to engender 
— and this, my dear brother, is what effectually removes the 
average Christian beyond the ' ' sphere of active human sympa- 
thies. " He becomes, alas, a Christian and no more. He leaves 
the great social reforms to the unbelievers, while isolating him- 
self deeply in the bosom of the little coterie of church-goers 
among whom he finds his life's delight. But I am not un- 
mindful of the fact that many noble natures live above the 
atmosphere of their churches. In spite of church and creed, 
they feel their way to their kind, and unconsciously work on 
the line of race redemption— finding their way to God, not so 
much through the church as through humanity. Still, I make 
no war on the churches; they have had their day and done 
noble service for the race ; chiefly through all the ages by 
preserving the memorials of divine truth and inducing a moral 
restraint upon the actions of men. Now and then, indeed, in 
their poverty stricken beginnings, they have entered into the 
woes and burdens of the suffocated race, and at such periods 
floods of celestial light, bringing hope for a better time have 
poured into this shattered world. But they have fallen into 
the hands of the respectable classes — worldly honor and wealth 
have come to them. In their sacred temples, sin and pity sit 
side by side, equally honored, while, to carry on their vast 
operations, contributions from the despoilers of labor, the 
usurer and the liquor dealer, are welcomed with open hands. 
The few really altruistic men and women, whose names are 
enrolled upon the church books, live pent up and measurably 
suppressed lives because of the evil spheres in which their lot 
is cast — albeit, unconsciously to themselves, thej' are the 



THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 317 

exceeding hope of the world. But I will not pursue this sub- 
ject further. I seldom open my mouth upon subjects of the- 
ology. Believing most sincerely that all things are rapidly 
tending to the close of the long, long struggle for human 
redemption and looking constantly for the " end," I am will- 
ing to leave all these matters to others; content to serve my 
fellow being when service can do him any good, and let others 

believe and think as they please 

. . . The Lord knows all things, my heart among the 
rest, and I am quite willing to trust him to the end. My wife 
joins in love to you and yours. 

Your affectionate Bro,, 

T. ly. Nugent. 



A LETTER TO A FRIEND, 

Stephenville, Erath Co. , Texas. 
Dear Friend: 

Your letter and postal card came to hand some time since. 

The latter, as Dr. was not in his office, I handed to Mr. 

, who promised to see the Dr. and write you. The 

former I have borne in mind, hesitating yet meditating what 
reply to make. Even yet, I am not sure I am in a position to 
give you any reliable suggestion as to the course you should 
pursue; and the difficulty is not lessened by the fact, that I do 
not know whether you desire legal advice, or advice as to the 
spiritual aspects of your case, or both. If you desire to be 
advised as to your legal rights, then you must be aware, that 
a want of information upon which to base an opinion pre- 
vents me from saying anything which could be of any value to 
you. The same is true, in a measure, as to the spiritual aspects 
of your case. I would gladly help you if I could, but I feel 
myself incapable of solving difficulties of so delicate a nature. 
There are so many things to be taken in view, such a compli- 
cation of feeling and interest, that I shrink from obtruding 
views that might hurt rather than help ; and I should regret 
very deeply any injury I might do you, even though it might 



318 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

spring from a motive of unselfish friendship — and so far as you 
are concerned, I know no other motive. And 3^et, as 3'our 
letter invites an expression from me, or seems at least to do so, 
I may suggest what it occurs to me I would do if I were situated 
as you are. 

And preliminary to this, I may indulge in a reflection or so 
as to the probable cause of your trouble. You know that I did 
not regard your matrimonial alliance with much favor. While 
hoping that you had found a lady in whose association your 
expectations of happiness might be realized, I could not but 
fear that you had made a mistake; not because I had any reason 
to believe the lady herself any worse than or different from the 
average good, natural woman, but rather because it seemed to 
me you were, by 3'our marriage, inviting an " antagonism of 
spheres," which, if Swedenborg's teachings are true, can never 
fail to produce disharmony and unhappiness. Growing as j-ou 
evidently have been, towards a plane of life above that of the 
mere natural marriage, having had your eyes open to truth, 
which never can flourish in the atmosphere of that religion- 
ism which confounds goodness with conformit}^, and the reality 
of spiritual life and growth with the mere seeming of a super- 
ficial moralism, I did not doubt that your venture would tax 
your interior nature more severely than any former experience 
of your life. 

How could it be otherwise ? How can one whose heart has 
been touched and awakened by the inspiration of the New L,ife, 
find comfort in an ecclesiastical circle essentially sectarian in 
spirit, life and usage! You did not reflect, I think, that the 
best natural woman, whose life and character have been shaped 
and moulded by many years of conformity to the dogmas and 
practices of a church founded wholly in the proprium, will 
inevitably revolt at the approach of any sphere vitalized by the 
liberal and genuine truths of the New Life. Now, you will 
pardon me for sa3'ing, I do not regard your wife as insane, nor 
do I think her internal character at all below the general, 
average character of the religious woman of the churches. I 
feel sure that, regarded from the standpoint of current religion, 
she is a good woman and withal just as rational and sane as 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 319 

most other women of her class. Her apparent insanity grows 
out of the fact that all of the spiritual evils involved in her 
religious proprium are aroused and brought to the surface of 
her life by "antagonism of spheres;" and this may be said 
without reflection on you or her, since of the true cause no 
doubt you are both unconscious. My dear friend, you will upon 
reflection see, that the New Church truth can never be made 
to fit into any ecclesiastical garment woven by Alexander 
Campbell. The two systems are radically irreconcilable. They 
can never be forced to mix. This is particularly true when the 
New Church truth has partially, or wholly, taken on the form 
of the New Life. Of necessity, that sphere, which is at war 
with every earth-born institution. Church or system, can not 
fail to provoke hostility when brought in contact with states of 
life formed from present evil conditions; and it is quite appar- 
ent to me, that when such a sphere meets its opposite in the 
married state, a violent reaction must result, exhibiting contra- 
dictions and extravagances of speech and action every closely 
resembling insanity. You will no doubt, think this a rather 
long and unnecessary preface; but it is in a measure, a neces- 
sary explanation of my reason for saying what I do now say, 
that you and your wife will never, in my judgment, get along 
harmoniously. But I am equally satisfied that your separation 
has been providentially brought about for the good of both. I 
now proceed to tell you what I think I would do if I were in 
your situation. I would first, as John Wesely did under sim- 
ilar circumstances, write in my diar}^ the words, " non dimisi; 
non revocabo, ' ' and the course thus indicated I would stead- 
fastly pursue. In other words, I should regard the separation 
as final, complete and providential; and I should, for this rea- 
son, never undertake to fight against fate by any sort of patch- 
ing up. In the next place, I would endeavor to come to some 
adjustment of the matter outside of the court. You don't 
want on your hands a disagreeable suit, involving charges 
and counter charges. Why not, then, get a mutual friend to 
arrange an adjustment something like this, viz: You waive 
all claim to your wife's property, in consideration of which let 
your wife dismiss her suit for divorce. At the expiration of 



.'520 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

three years, institute suit against ^-our wife for divorce on the 
ground of abandonment, prove her voluntary separation from 
you for three years, living apart from you with intent to aban- 
don you permanently, all of which could be easily shown, and 
get your divorce without contest on her part. This is better, 
for many reasons, than divorce obtained after a fight in court. 
In the first place, the proceeding will not attract any notice. It 
will move on in a quiet way, the divorce will be granted, and 
but few will ever give the matter any attention, or cherish any 
recollection of it. In the next place, if your wife is able to 
produce any evidence of the grounds upon which she sues for 
divorce, the suit will be likely to go in her favor in spite of 
your resistance. In such suits the jury are always in -sympathy 
with the woman, and a mere conflict of evidence will not pre- 
vent them from deciding in her favor. So that, in all proba- 
bility, your wife will beat you in the suit, and the proceeding 
will obtain ten-fold more publicit}^ than it can acquire if it be 
not contested. Besides, these suits usually go off on ex-parte 
hearing without contest; and the proof usually made does not 
extend beyond what is necessary under the law to get the de- 
cree. They attract little or no attention, and leave little or no 
sting behind. But there are other reasons in favor of letting 
the suit take care of itself besides those mentioned, which will 
readily occur to j-ou; and although you may feel that you are 
luijustly assailed and that, therefore, you owe to yourself the 
duty of self-vindication, I am yet of the opinion that the wrong 
to which you may submit will not only be less injurious spirit- 
ually than vindication reached through the instrumentality of 
a judicial contest, but the smart it may leave behind will be 
more than offset by the release from a hundred anxieties which 
the course I suggest will secure. Besides, the desire for vindi- 
cation is, after all, a merely selfish and worldly one; and, while 
I do not say it should always be set aside or suppressed, I have 
found that its indulgence, nine times out of ten, brings more 
trouble than it cures. Better leave your vindication in the 
hands of providence, and trust as little to human agencies for it 
as possible. A pure, upright life will in the long run bring its 
own vindication; and if it should not do so in the judgment of 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 321 

the world of selfish men, the consoling reflection remains, that 
the good opinion of men, while not in itself undesirable, is, 
nevertheless, not indispensable to one's happiness. It is better 
to please God than men, and to stand acquitted before His law, 
rather than before the law of public opinion. And this truth 
gathers strength from the consideration, that the value of vin- 
dication is rather apparent than real, since it goes no farther, 
ordinarily, than to secure us the favorable judgment of our fel- 
lows, which in most cases brings rather spiritual loss than gain. 
But I must bring this letter to a clo.se. Writing from this dis- 
tance, you must bear in mind that I may, in want of full in- 
formation, " miss the mark " completely. If, therefore, what 
I have written fills the bill, ascribe the fact to a fortunate 
guess — or to providence. 

My wife joins in kind regards. Hoping that providence may 
afford you all the light you need, I am 

Your friend, 

T. L. Nugent. 

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS TO HIS WIFE, 
Note. 

I boarded in Judge Nugent' s family from the fall of 1888 to 
the spring of 1890, and have been much with them since. I 
was always treated as one of the family and, being honored 
with confidence, had every opportunity of knowing the condi- 
tions of his home life. It seems to me that his marriage was 
so much a true marriage as to be ideal, if what is real can be 
said to be ideal. No one who knew both Judge Nugent and 
his wife can doubt that in their sympathies, their affections, 
their aspirations, and in their endeavors to do good and to reach 
a higher life, they were as one. There was perfect trust and 
confidence, perfect love between them. 

Judge Nugent was a gentleman by nature as well as breed- 
ing. He never failed to pay his wife, as a matter ofcour.se, all 
the delicate attentions which a gentleman instinctively pays to 
all true womanhood. A lady told me one day of a little inci- 



322 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

dent that illustrates his habitual thoughtfulness and courtesy. 
While sitting in her carriage in front of his office, in Fort 
Worth, she saw him on the street talking to a group of gentle- 
men. His wife passed him on her way to her phaeton near b3^ 
but did not see him. Judge Nugent said to the gentlemen, 
"Please excuse me while I assist my wife, " walked over to her, 
unhitched her horse, helped her into the phaeton, and raised 
his hat to her as he went back to his friends. The lady was 
much impressed by this little act of courteous attention. 

I have with much difficulty obtained permission to make 
these extracts, and it was with great reluctance that the permis- 
sion was granted. But I feel that one of the most important 
phases of Judge Nugent' s life would be omitted, were no refer- 
ence made to them. While many of the passages I most 
desired to quote were withheld as too sacred for publication, 
the ones I have secured show certain elements in his life and 
character in a way that nothing else could do. All his utter- 
ances are more than worthy to be preserved — his private utter- 
ances often more than his public ones — and these may be use- 
ful to many. Besides it is due that the world should recognize, 
what he earnestly declared himself, that his wife was his main 
help and stay — his comforter in affliction, his loving counsel- 
lor, and often his inspiration. Alice King. 



One would naturally feel some hesitation in laying open to 
public eye letters written in confidence, and with no thought of 
their contents ever being seen by other than the one for whom 
intended, and that one the confidante from whom no thought, 
no aspiration, hope, sorrow or joy was ever concealed — one who 
was to him as part of himself. But we know that to him all 
such external forms of things are now but as cast off'-garments, 
and if any use can be made of them it would be but a pleasure 
to him. While the real spirit and substance of the words he 
uttered still live with him and have passed onward, the word- 
garments in which they were clothed may serve to show, as 
any cast-off garment will, the nature and kind of being it was 
that once they clothed. They cannot show the full glory and 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 323 

beauty of the real thing, but they can convey some idea of it to 
every one who reads them — to some more than to others. Such 
letters as these show forth the character of a man more than all 
else. In them there is no striving for effect, no studied expres- 
sions, no evasions or deceptions — his real thoughts are there — 
the real soul of him is brought to view. And no good thought 
was ever spoken, no pure life was ever lived, but that all who 
hear the thought or know of the life, are elevated and helped 
thereby. 

These letters, written for the most part during the time when 
Judge Nugent was often absent from home, presiding over the 
different courts in his district, show the man as he was in pri- 
vate life. They also show how great is the influence of a true 
marriage upon the character. He believed in the Sweden- 
borgian doctrine, that true marriage is from the Lord; that no 
man, or woman, is complete in him or herself, but that it takes 
both the man and the woman to make the complete man-woman 
or perfect being. He believed that this question of marriage, 
as it is commonly looked upon, is in reality the root of all the 
evils in the world; that no permanent, lasting good can ever 
come to the human race until the marriage question is fully 
understood. The unhappiness and ills that are exposed by the 
divorce courts are the least of those that exist. Much is cov- 
ered up and hidden from public gaze that eats upon the soul 
like a canker worm, and renders rotten the whole heart of the 
social system. No man or woman can live out the best that is 
in him, though he may struggle hard against adverse influences, 
if alone or mated to one not in full sympathy with every thought 
of his mind and every aspiration of his soul. He must have 
that perfect sympathy and assistance — that complement of him- 
self — to fill up the measure of his life as it should be, and could 
be under right conditions. 

Extracts. 

In a letter written to his wife before their marriage, in 1880, 
he says : 

With me, marriage is something more than a mere civil 
institution. No external form of words can produce tlial true 



.'J'J4 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

conjugal union which, built upon the marriage of good and 
truth in the inner sanctuary of the soul, is God's best and most 
effectual method of evolving the regenerate life. The law of 
Divine use should, it seems to me, enter into and shape the 
wedded life of all God's children. With us, as we hasten on 
to the other world, this matter must be invested with a solem- 
nity and significance that cainiot penetrate the heart of one 
affected only by the lighter moods of sentiment and fancy. I 
feel that a companion is necessary to me — not for any merely 
worldly advantage, however greatly that might be promoted — 
but I need, sadly need, a wife who can enter by sympathy 
and purpose into my spiritual life, who can share with me my 
earthly hopes and aspirations because of the heavenly fruition 
to which I trust they tend, who can cheer me on in the 
difficult combat with the evils of my life, and who can par- 
ticipate with me in the spiritual triumphs to which her gentle 
presence and influence shall contribute. This is why I need a 
wife. But more than this, I crave the luxury of devoting the 
remainder of my days to one for whom it would be my chief 
delight to labor in the same sphere of physical use — returning 
to her, if possible, with usury, the precious treasure of conjugal 
affection which she might bring to me. 

This is but a crude and hasty statement of the thoughts 
which, on this subject, occur to me every day of my life. 



His desire for his children was always that they might grow 
into lives of usefulness, as the surest means of happiness. He 
says in the same letter: 

I have not forgotten the dear ones at home and have, from 
time to time, found my thoughts wandering Heavenward in 
their behalf. I pray to God to have you in His holy keep- 
ing always, and enable you to lead our children into lives of 
usefulness and happiness. 



The following extracts show his intense love of home and 
its influence upon him: 



THK LIFK WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 325 

Gatesvii,i.e, June, 1883. 
I find that even under the most favorable circumstances, 
when away on the circuit, my spiritual condition sinks much 
below what it is at home with you. Probably the Lord 
designs that I should learn to overcome and conquer even cir- 
cumstances themselves in the unfolding of a higher life. Cer- 
tain it is, that one cannot always be situated as he desires, 
and it is better to brave adverse surroundings than basely fly 
from them — better to overcome temptations than evade them 
when the}' arise in the pathway of duty. But enough of this 
moralizing. 



Gatesville, January, 1883. 
At all times and in all places my heart turns lovingly and 
longingly to wife and home — the person and place dearer to 
me than all beneath the sun. I suppose if my means j ustified 
the gratification of my inclination in this regard, office would 
soon be a thing of the past with me. I would undoubtedly 
give myself up fully to home life and home pursuits. But then, 
would I grow less selfish in this course, and more conformed 
to the will of the Divine teacher ? I fear not. It is by run- 
ning counter to our own wishes, by forcing ourselves into the 
stream of the world's struggling life, and battling with the 
winds and waves that beset it; and thus by dying to the easy 
and pleasant life which our natural inclinations prompt us to 
seek and desire, that we form hardy spiritual characters, fit to 
do the will of the I^ord. As long as we weakly cling to the 
life which our narrow personal surroundings have formed, our 
spiritual natures can never become shaped and broadened to 
the dimensions of the higher life. It is only by accepting the 
dispositions of Providence in an obedient and loyal spirit — sur- 
rendering absolutely our own for the higher life — that we can 
learn the deeper spiritual lessons of our existence and prepare 
for the Divine unfoldings within us. It seems to me that to 
live at home is what my heart chiefly desires; and yet, duties 
that call me away, if performed in a reverend spirit, for high 
ends, must in the long run be of immense value in making my 



326 TPIK T-IFK WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

life more useful and lu}- character more strongly built up on 
the firm foundation of heavenly truth. I get greatly troubled 
at times — suffer many internal pains — because of the little 
measure of success with which my efforts seem crowned, that 
is, success from a Divine or spiritual standpoint. At the 
center of my own being I can detect so much subtle selfish- 
ness — such an incapacity to ignore self in doing what my con- 
science requires me to do — that I am not infrequently plunged 
into the depths of despair. What can I do, though, but to move 
on, praying for strength to conquer at last? 



Hamilton, November, 1885. 
Just as soon as I can get off, I will go straight to the best 
place for me — at your side. God only knows how ardently I 
wish I could stop short off where I am and go home for a long, 
final stay, never to leave until eternity claims me. 



Thorp Springs, March, 1887. 
I feel very much the need of your dear presence and com- 
pany. Somehow I gather strength and comfort from being 
with 3'ou, in spite of the trying experiences which we are con- 
stantly called on to confront. I hope for nothing so fervently 
as the ability to so shape my affairs as to be with you all the 
time. Every day of contact with the world teaches me that my 
dear and true wife, more than all the world, can hold my hands 
up and help me bear the burdens that press .so heavily on me. 
There is a providence in all our ways, however, and we may 
therefore hope for some change for the better. 



The following, written from Gatesville in December, 1883, 
shows his kindly and obliging disposition. Dr. McMullen, a 
traveling phrenologi.st, well known in that district, was blind, 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. ->-' 

and no doubt it was a great treat to him to be read to. The 
remarks upon " Robert Falconer " also give an insight nito 
his deep spiritual character. 

For the last few days I have been engaged reading " Robert 
Falconer" aloud to Dr. McMullen. The poor old man was 
much pleased with it, and it was hke a revelation from Heaven 
to me. I wished so much that you could have been with us 
and participated in the delight and profit of the reading. No 
one with open mind can read the book without being impressed 
with its powerful presentations of spiritual truths. Such a 
feast I have not enjoyed for many a day. Throughout the 
whole reading I could not help thinking that the spirit of the 
new age was sending beams of heavenly light through the ut- 
terances of the author out upon the darkness of the world's 
religious thought ; and in the light of Robert Falconer's char- 
acter, as drawn by MacDonald, I am sure that I see more plainly 
than ever the orthodox hell that yawns beneath earth's heartsick 
and footsore humanity. I feel myself more than usual— nay, 
more than I ever did before— that I am one of the " heartsick 
and footsore," and long with renewed yearning for the time 
when the way of our present disorder and death shall suddenly 
end in whatever mode the Divine love may provide. How 
pleasant the prospect of gliding out into the boundless sea of that 
love to live and serve in the stream of its ever-continuing and 
all-pervading inspirations. Surely the difficulties and dangers 
of the storm passage must appear as small, indeed, when the 
Divine haven shall be reached. The glory that shall be re- 
vealed, thank God, is not for you and me, not for any highly- 
favored individuals, but for every member of earth-born and 
sin-cursed humanity. How wonderfully does truth shine 
out through the novels of MacDonald. And how de- 
lightful to think that even those who are fighting 
honestly against the dawning glory shall yet be num- 
bered with God's little ones; howbeit they may be 
forced to pass through the dissolving fires of the last judg- 
ment. Yes, all who have sinned in Adam shall rise to newness 
of life in the new Adam who, as a loving God, comes not 
to destroy but to cleanse and save. May the new life and 



328 THK TJFK WORK OL* THOMAS T,. NITQENT. 

spirit reach deep into the darkness of our innermost natures and 
quicken us to renewed elTorts in the work of unfolding the 
higher Hfe. My precious wife, give yourself up fully to the 
higher inspirations. They will sorely try and afflict you, but in 
the end will open up a well of ever-living water in your soul, 
as they must do in us all. May God lead us both and all others 
into the crucifixion of self and thus into the abiding life and 
light of the last days. 



Writing, in 1887, from Gatesville, and speaking of a friend 
who had just returned from an extended trip to Washington 
Territory with glowing descriptions of its healthy climate, etc. , 
and referring to his own desire to leave the bench and seek 
health in a more congenial clime. Judge Nugent sa3^s: 

I feel more than ever like emigrating. How glad I would 
be if Providence should open the door for my escape to a coun- 
try full of bouyant health, and the spirit of progess and 
improvement. But our lives are not our own. In the divine 
economy, our use is where the Lord puts us, however feebly 
we may essay to do the Lord's work. If tiie open door should 
be set before us, we will enter in. In the meantime, under 
whatever discouragements, we must pursue the even tenor of 
our way, doing what is right and remembering always that the 
end will come to us, as it has and will come to all, and that the 
merciful purpose of God to us-ward cannot fail. The great 
thing is to keep the conscience clear, and make the most of 
what we have. If our opportunities are few, our measure of 
responsibility will be proportionately lessened, although a 
proper use of such opportunity as we have will bring to us the 
"exceeding great reward." You recollect that even the labor- 
ers of the eleventh hour got the common penny of compensa- 
tion. 



Speaking of the discomforts that arise from ill health, poor 
accommodations, absence from home, and the trials of court 
life, he writes: 



Tim IJPK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUCENT. 329 

Oh, how weary I am of all this thing. How I long to be 
able to quit this work and remain at home with you, my dear 
wife and children. I earnestly pray God that I may be able to 
spend at least a few years of my life before going hence, in the 
pure and tender atmosphere of home. I am tired of this cease- 
less routine of business — tired of facing and fighting the multi- 
plied evils of our corrupt social and political life, yearning like 
a sick child to lay my head down on the restful pillow of my 
own home life, never again to get beyond its loving and sympa- 
thizing associations. Is this for us, darling, in the end ? Let 
us pray God that it may be. 



The following was written after Judge Nugent had resigned 
his position on the bench in 1888, with the intention of resum- 
ing the practice of law: 

I have been anxiously looking for a letter or card from you, 
but it has not come and I have, in consequence, been uneas}' 
and troubled about you. I sincerely hope these separations 
will end with the present year. No one can imagine how gladly 
I will welcome the change in my business which will enable me 
to be with you most, if not all of the time. I find myself grow- 
ing into the feeling that Divine Providence will set before us 
an open door, and my anxiety about the future is gradually 
leaving me. Let us prepare to enter when the hour has struck. 
It seems to me that my life is growing daily more and more to 
depend upon your presence for all the hope and inspiration it 
can ever get. 



He discussed everythmg with his wife. He had no thought 
too high or too low to share with her, and he was always sure 
of meeting with her ready understanding and sympathy. Writ- 
ing from Glen Rose, April. 1888, he says: 

How sadly the politicians misinterpret the people, and how 
criminal to promote strife among them on the prohibition ques- 
tion in order to advance the political interests of ambitious 



330 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

men. But the day of retribution is approaching. An aroused 
public sentiment will push self-seeking men to the rear as the 
horizon of public intelligence widens to take in the mighty 
issues that are slowly rising into view. The upheavel is com- 
ing — not this year may be, nor next, but at some time in the 
future when the masses throw their eyelids wide open to see 
the coming light. They will yet know those who have not 
betrayed a trust or shirked a duty. I,et us stand outside and 
watch the moving column of humanity as it marches to its des- 
tiny — willing to help, but more than willing to bear quite an 
humble share in the coming victory of truth. The people look 
to me like sheep without a shepherd. Ravenous wolves sur- 
round the fold and would lead the way to pastures green — and 
to slaughter. But Providence will raise up the leader, and 
when he comes no bugle blast ofwar will announce his coming. 
It will rather be heralded by a hymn of joy and praise that 
God has provided one to bring harmony to discordant 
counsels and wisdom to temper and direct the zeal of the long- 
waiting long-suffering sons of toil. And the burden of his song 
will be the new evangel of redeemed and glorified industry. 



The following was written to his wife at Fort Worth, from 
Palestine, during the political campaign of 1894 : 

As you will see, I have reached Palestine on my i-ound of 
speaking. How much I wish it was Fort Worth ! I am 
thoroughly worn out with this political work. More than 
ever am I determined never to make another popular cam- 
paign. Could I this morning quit the field and return to my 
home and olBSce, I would be inexpressibly happy, ... I 
have been overwhelmed with kindness at every point — the 
attention given me being at times surprisingly marked. Still, 
my dearest wife, I would willingly lay it all aside for the 
blessed privilege of being with you — my best, and sometimes I 
think, my only true and unselfish friend. However, God is 
managing it all for the best and I do not doubt that good will 
result to us all. 



THE I.IFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 331 

At Houston I met my nephew, Paul Nugent, and Mr. Arm- 
strong, his brother-in-law. Paul was with me a great deal and 
was very attentive and kind in looking after my wants. He is 
a fine young man and stands very high in Houston. He is a 
civil engineer and is gaining much reputation for skill in his 
profession and his exemplary habits as a man. You would be 
delighted with him. 



Judge Nugent's wife, up to the time of his death, made it the 
chief work of her life to minister to his wants and to keep as 
much care and worry from him as was possible, in order to pre- 
serve and hoard his strength for the work he felt called upon to 
do for the people. 

Ambition had little if any place in his heart. His one aim 
and desire, as shown in all his private as well as his public life, 
was to lead a life of use and be of service to humanity. He let 
nothing interfere with his sense of duty in this direction. Had 
he devoted himself exclusively to the practice of his profession 
there is no doubt but that he would have acquired both wealth 
and exalted eminence. Had he cared for political honors and been 
willing to sacrifice his sense of duty in their pursuit, he could 
doubtless have attained the highest. But he gave himself as a 
willing sacrifice in the service of the people, and devoted his 
time, his means, his labor and his health — even life itself — in 
their behalf, without thought of reward other than the con- 
sciousness of having accomplished good. 

Believing that he could not be elected, he gave his time and 
labor to the Populist party, as a candidate for governor, during 
two political campaigns in Texas. For such honors as might 
be gained he cared nothing. Only a sense of duty urged him 
on. Often he started out on a campaign tour suffering from 
such utter physical weakness that his wife saw him depart with 
fear and trembling. She accompanied him whenever possible, 
that she might keep up his strength by giving and securing 
such attentions as he would never tliink of asking for himself. 
Often did she see him return from arduous toil in his ofl&ce or 
upon the stump in such extreme weakness and exhaustion as 



332 TIIK IJFR WORK OF THOMAS L. NUOKNT. 

scarcely to be able to drag his weary feet along. And when, at 
last, she watched his strength decline from week to week and 
day today, and knew that the end must soon come, who can 
picture the grief of her heart ? He gave his life for the people. 
She gave what to her was far dearer than life. 



THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 333 



Newspaper and Personal Estimates 
OF Judge Nugent. 



THROUGH TEXAS! 



A CAMPAIGN WHICH MEANS THE BEASTLY MAJORITY MUST GO 



Judge Thomas L. Nugent— Conditions Which Make Him More Than a Party 
Candidate— Proposed Republican Fusion— Anti^Hogg Democracy. 

[Special Correspondence "Globe Democrat."] 

Fort Worth, Tex., Aug. 10, 1892.— What the People's 
party tried to do at Omaha is accomplished in Texas. For a state 
campaign the nomination of Judge Thomas L. Nugent was 
what the selection of Judge Gresham would have been in a 
national sense. A thousand Texas farmers met in Dallas and 
chose Judge Nugent for the head of their ticket. They did 
better than they knew. Nugent has been before the people of 
Texas two months. He has developed strength. He now 
stands for more than the party which nominated him. The 
elements in the Democratic party which cannot be reconciled 
to the renomination of Gov. Hogg are warming toward Nugent, 
The Republicans of the state have opened correspondence with 
the National Republican Committee on the expediency of leav- 
ing a clear field for Nugent against Hogg. Following the re- 
nomination of the Governor at Houston the Republicans will 
hold a convention. That element of the party which believes 



334 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

ill white supremacy has already put out an exceptionally strong 
ticket. The head is a sou of the last Union Governor of Texas. 
A sou of the only Republican Governor Texas ever had is the 
candidate for Attorney General. The selection for Commis- 
sioner of the Land Office is the son of Kx-secretary of the Navy, 
Richard W. Thompson of Indiana, whose birthday was celebra- 
ted by the Republican National Convention at Minneapolis. 
The nominee for State Treasurer is an ex-Major from a Penn- 
sylvania regiment. From top to bottom the ticket is of good 
stock. Whether it will remain before the people is yet to be 
determined. The inclination in many quarters seems to favor 
a concentration upon Nugent of all of the elements in opposition 
to Hogg. 

Fort Worth's site is a high platteau. From his office win- 
dows Judge Nugent can see more of Texas than can any other 
lawyer in the state. River and Prairie, cross timbers, blossom- 
ing cotton, ripening corn, wheat in shock, the cattle ot a thous- 
and hills and radiating railroads are within the Judge's vision 
when he wheels from his desk and its load of sheep skin-cov- 
ered law. If, having eyes to see, he uses them, he can hardly 
fail of comprehensive views about Texas. 

Ill physique Judge Nugent is the very antithesis of the man 
against whom he is pitted. He hasn't an ounce of flesh to 
spare. Gov. Hogg was cast in a mold so massive that one 
hesitates to guess his weight, There is vigor in Judge Nugent's 
movement but it is the power of mind over matter. Nerve 
force sends him along the track of this most remarkable race. 
Judge Nugent's face is a little narrower than President Harri- 
son's but it has some of the same strength of feature. The 
paleness of the student is one thing that impresses itself. The 
third party man is usually of rugged features and bronzed tint. 
Wrestling with mighty problems has deepened the lines of his 
face, and close acquaintance with Texas wind and sun has given 
color. When the weather beaten farmers gather around their 
pale, intellectual looking candidate the contrast is striking. 
Judge Nugent is a Louisianian by birth and a Texan by nearly 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMA.S L. NUGENT. 335 

a quarter of a century of adoption. He was a seces.sionist. He 
believed in the Divine right of slavery. He was a Southerner 
of the distinct ultra type, highly educated, highly bred and of 
high spirit. The evolution of such a man into the third party 
is an interesting study. How did it come about ? 

"I parted company with the Democratic party," he said in 
conversation, "because I became dissatisfied with its incon- 
sistency in principle, the corruption of its national manage- 
ment and the continual surrender to the interests of Wall street. 
I became convinced that the Democracy would do anything for 
the offices. ' ' 

And then the Judge in sharp, clear sentences sketched Demo- 
cratic history on the tariff question since the war. He showed 
how the party had fought out the great fight with the Whigs 
before the war, and had gone over to Whig ground immedi- 
ately after the war when it nominated Seymour. He instanced 
the nomination of Greeley, a high protectionist. Four years 
afterward he said the party won with Tilden, and for years after 
that it declared the tariff a local issue. In 1884 it won on 
tariff reform. It had not stood on the same ground more than 
two campaigns in succession, but seemed willing to profess anj^- 
thing to get the offices. 

"For my.self," .said the Judge, "I am a free trader— not a 
tariff reformer, but a free trader. I realize, however, that we 
have got to go very slowly and to take care that varied and 
important interests do not suffer before we reach free trade. It 
will take a long time to bring the people to free trade and to 
the support of the government by general taxation, but it is the 
correct thing. This brief expression illustrates the character 
of the man. He has his theories, but he is not in favor of 
establishing them by radical or revolutionary steps in legisla- 
tion. He believes in the education of the people to what he is 
convinced would be better forms of government. Such char- 
acteristics make it possible for elements which are not identified 
with the third party to supj)ort Judge Nugent. In Texas the 
railroad question is a greater issue than the tariff. The Hogg 
idea of railroad regulation is through a commission into whose 
hands the legislature has put more power for the good or bad 



836 THE LIPK WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 

than three men ever before possessed in any state. In a speech 
upon the stump one day last week Judge Nugent said: 

"And it is just as much robbery to take money from a rail- 
road without giving it some equivalent as it is to take your 
horses when you are asleep. A railroad is a great industrial 
enterprise. It combines all the wealth producing factors — 
land, labor and capital. It is one of the necessities of civiliza- 
tion and a benefit to society. The Democratic party of Texas 
invited these railroads to come here. It held up its hands and 
said, we have a great state, an undeveloped state; one likely to 
produce enormous tonnage. Come in here and help build it up, 
and we will treat you right. The Democratic party of Texas 
even wanted railroads so badly that it went to the extent of giv- 
ing the companies great bodies of the public domain, in order 
to induce them to come in and help develop the state. These 
roads are entitled to the same protection as the farmer, and tak- 
ing money from them is just as much robbery as taking the 
farmer's money from him." 

The judicial cast of mind manifests itself in all of Judge 
Nugent' s declarations. He is for that great American prin- 
ciple of fair play to everybody, farmer and corporation. Gov- 
ernmental control of railroads is a cardinal principle in the third 
party. Judge Nugent says he does not believe in the govern- 
ment taking control of the railroads without a very thorough 
trial on a limited scale. He thinks there should be no general 
application of the principles until the government has man- 
aged one or two roads long enough to show that it is entirely 
advisable. 



It takes temerity to talk about any possibility of defeat for 
the Democratic nominee in Texas. The man who carried the 
State by 180,000 majority two short years ago and receives 
renomination by a two thirds vote in the convention ought to 
be able to read his title clear to the mansion on the hill at 
Austin. No prediction as to the result is intended. This is 
not an occasion for an exhibition of rainbow chasing nerve. 
But the situation in Texas presents some very remarkable 



THE I.IFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 337 

phases. These may be remembered. The oldest inhabitants 
agree that there has never been any such politics in the State. 
Judge Nugent' s personality peculiarly fits him for just such a 
candidacy as his has become. He has never been an aspirant 
for any office he did not fill. Nine years service on the bench 
of the State qualified him for more in the opinion of his con- 
stituents. His services ended because he declined to accept 
another term. The charge has not and cannot be raised that 
he left his party because of disappointed ambition. There 
was a time when his Democratic friends wished to send him 
to Congress, but he refused. The People's party sought him. 
He accepted upon a platform which modifies in two or three 
particulars the more radical declarations. At the time of that 
acceptance, nearly two months ago, neither the Judge nor the 
party saw the importance of that action. The conditions likely 
to limit the contest to two candidates had not developed. The 
great issue of Hogg and anti-Hogg had not revealed its full 
significance. Judge Nugent probably accepted as a matter of 
principle, and without a hope of election. He became the 
candidate of the third party, and now he finds himself growing 
into the candidacy of all elements which oppose a repetition of 
the present administration and of 180,000 Democratic majority. 
The cultivation of a judicial temperament is a great thing. 
Judge Nugent takes to the new conditions calmly and coolly. 
He is not unduly elated nor over sanguine. 

"If,*' said he, " our Executive Committee had $25,000 with 
which to meet the legitimate expenses of the campaign, we 
would beat Hogg. But our people for the most part are not 
well-to-do. They have little money until they pick their cot- 
ton. We are obliged to do the best we can without a campaign 
fund. Our committee has just organized and arranged a plan 
of campaign. From all that I hear our prospects are encourag- 
ing." 

This is all Judge Nugent will say as to his hopes. He is 
not a boastful man. The possibilities in the case depend upon 
the amount of Republican assistance and the degree of Demo- 
cratic disaffection. Gov. Hogg has gained his necessary two- 
thirds in the Convention, but at the expense of an intensely 



338 THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

bitter minority faction. Its party discipline has saved the 
Democracy many a time. Aheady some of the leaders on the 
anti-Hogg side are saying that if the Governor is renominated 
they will support him. They are politicians. The element 
which talks loud and cusses vigorously will follow the leaders 

to the polls and "vote for Hogg, d n him." But Clark, as 

emphasizing all that is anti-Hogg, has had the vigorous sup- 
port of the commercial classes. The Democratic merchants, 
the Democratic bankers, the Democratic traveling men, the 
Democratic clerks are quite generally against Hogg. These 
men, as politicians all know, do not wear the party collar. 
They oppose Hogg as a business proposition. They believe 
his policy is damaging to the commercial interests. When 
George Clark announced himself as a candidate for governor on 
the anti-Hogg ticket, the business men of the State took such a 
part in preliminaries and primaries as they had never done 
before. Now the question is, where will these commercial ele- 
ments be found on election day? The Republicans polled 77,742 
votes in 1890. That was 10,000 short of the vote in 1888, and 
16,000 below the poll of 1884. The inference from these fig- 
ures would be that Republicans are dying off in Texas. Such 
is not the case. There has not been sufficient motive for Re- 
publicans voting in Texas. Can 70,000 Republicans, or any- 
thing like that number, be led to see the expediency of voting 
for Nugent? That is the second factor in the problem. Here- 
tofore the Democratic nomination in Texas has been equivalent 
to election. This time there will be some lively treading of 
water after the Houston Convention. " No bottom," perhaps, 
describes the condition of the political pool. 



Judge Nugent talks interestingly about the race question. 
" Either in interview or letter," said he, " I am going to advo- 
cate shortly the separation of the races in our penitentiaries. 
I believe the negro convicts should be by themselves, and I 
believe that they should be under the charge of negro officers. 
This principle, I think should be extended to other state 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 339 

institutions, such as the asylums. Negro officers should be 
placed over institutions set apart for negro inmates. We 
already have negro teachers for negro schools in this state. 
My idea is that separation, as far as possible, is best for the 
negro. Anything which helps to remove this controversy about 
so-called and impossible social equality is wise. I am in favor 
of giving the negroes recognition in such positions under the 
state government as they are able to fill, and in favor of their 
advancement. The policy of separation will help them, I 
believe. 

" Is the race making progress, Judge?" was asked. 

"Some negroes are doing well," he replied. "They are 
acquiring means and command respect as good citizens. Then 
there is a class of the old type, honest, faithful and content to 
labor. But around the towns and cities there are growing up 
many young negroes who are falling into evil ways. All of 
the negroes in Texas are sending their children to school; negro 
children very generally can read and write. When I was 
young I thought slavery was all right. I believed that 
the Bible justified it. It seemed to me it was entirely 
proper that the negro should he owned, worked and taken 
care of. After the war I came to take a very different view. 
I reached the conclusion that slavery was bad, and that those 
who suffered most from the evil effects of the system were the 
white people, not the black." 

Democrats complain that in his campaign speeches thus far 
Judge Nugent has devoted most of his attention to their party's 
national record. The charge is true. That is the subject upon 
which the Judge talks with most feeling. He entertains the 
deepest contempt for national Democratic leadership. It is the 
deepest contempt of a strong, sincere man who has been in and 
of the party the best years of his life, and, at last, reluctantly 
awakens to the hollowness and hypocrisy of its preten- 
sions. 

" If Blaine had been nominated," said Judge Nugent, "and 
if it was a question of voting for him or for Cleveland, I would 
vote for Blaine. I believe Mr. Cleveland is more under the 
influence of the corrupt money power of the east than Mr. Har- 



340 THE LIFK WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

rison. I believe Mr. Cleveland's .sympathies are with the aris- 
tocracy of wealth, and he represents those ideas as against 
the interests of the people, notwithstanding his tariff reform 
declarations. ' ' 

The man in charge of Judge Nugent's campaign is Col. 
H, L. Bently. He has left his business at Abilene to devote 
himself to this work. His capacity as an organizer is said to 
be far above the ordinary. 

"We have," said Col. Bently, "a strong club organization in 
Texas to begin with. Our rolls show a membership of 100,000 
and it is growing. ' ' 

To the inquiry whether the party apprehended any bull- 
dozing Col. Bently smiled. He is an ex-confederate, a mem- 
ber of the Confederate Veterans' Association, an officer on the 
staff of Lieut. -Gen. Cabell, commanding the Trans-Mississippi 
Confederate Veterans, and also on the staff of Gen. Ross, com- 
manding the Texas division of the Veterans. His old home 
was Danville, Virginia. Referring to the relations between 
Union and Confederate veterans in the third party, Col. Bently 
said there was the most cordial feeling. He thought the third 
party movement had done more than anything else to bring 
about this era of good feeling. ' ' It has brought about the end 
of the bloody shirt business," he said, "and we shall never 
have any more of it." 

The tributes to Judge Nugent's personal worth come from a 
great variety of sources. Papers like the Dallas Neivs and 
Fort Worth Gazette have spoken so kindly of the People's party 
nominee that their party-loyalty has been almost suspected by 
the friends of Hogg. A few days ago, at Sherman, Capt. Tom 
Brown, the father of the railroad commission law and the man- 
ager in a large part of Gov. Hogg's campaign, said in the course 
of a conversation, that Judge Nugent was an able lawyer and a 
man of high integrity. He regretted that the Judge had left 
the party. He said that when such men withdrew, it w^as time 
for the Democracy to do something in the interests of the peo- 
ple. Col. Webb Flanagan is probably the best known of 
Texas Republicans to the North. He fills a very comfortable 



THE LIFK WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 341 

chair in the new Custom House at El Paso. His personal 
opinion of Judge Nugent was expressed heartily. 

" I served with the gentleman about four months in 1880," 
he said. "We were members of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion. Judge Nugent is a very active worker and a very cor- 
rect one. He is a conscientious man of fine ability, highly 
educated and one of the most cultured men in Texas." 

" Has he got any crank notions? was asked. 

"I don't think he has," said Col. Flanagan. "Belonging 
to the third part};- as he does and committed as he is to the idea 
of the Government control of railroads, he recommends that 
the experiment be carefully tried with two or three roads and 
not with the whole. That shov/s his disposition to go slow. ' ' 

' 'Did he leave the Democratic part}- on any personal grounds ?' ' 

' 'I don't think he did. He left the bench of his own motion. 
He could have kept his judgeship if he had wished. He could 
have gone to Congress if he had remained a Democrat. The 
party would have given him the nomination in his district. He 
could have had it in this district where he lived for a time." 

"The change is from principle, then ? " 

' ' I think so. Judge Nugent wants the rights of the people 
sustained according to his views of them. He is strictly an 
honest man. You can take the Democratic papers all through 
the state or talk with Democrats wherever you meet them; you 
will not find one that doesn't speak in the highest terms of 
Judge Nugent." 

" Don't you think. Colonel, that many people in Texas have 
gone into the third party movement because they are opposed 
to the Democratic polic}- rather than because they accept the 
third party principles ? ' ' 

' ' No question about that. The most intelligent men who 
are supporting Nugent are doing it without regard to third 
party ideas. They are sick of the "beastly majority" and 
disgusted with the Democratic machine. They believe it will 
be better for Texas to have a division on political lines more 
nearly even. Wliatever is the result of this campaign, that 
majority of 180,000 is a thing of the past. Everybody will 
concede that now. ' ' 



342 TlIK LIFE WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

Politically, Capt. Tom Brown and Col. "Webb Flanagan areas 
wide apart as the poles. Their personal opinions go to show 
that Judge Nugent is an ideal candidate for the peculiar 
conditions of the present campaign in Texas. 



I knew Judge Nugent intimately for more than twenty j'ears 
preceding his death. I enjoyed his friendship and possessed 
his confidence. In my relations with and observations of him, 
I have had the fullest opportunity to learn and understand his 
character and appreciate the manner of maij he was. I have 
repeatedly been with him in his home, at his friends, in the 
social converse and hospitable communion of an invited guest, 
and then I have had him with me beneath my roof. I have 
met him at the bar in the honorable competition of our profes- 
sion. I have appeared before him and practiced in the court 
when he occupied the bench. For many years we were of the 
same political creed, and mutually supported each other for 
public office; during which time I was the beneficiary of his 
kindly suggestions and thoughtful advice. Our subsequent 
political separation, in no respect diminished our personal 
friendship and esteem, nor, in any degree, abated my entire 
confidence in the purity of his motives and the siricerity of his 
convictions. We have talked with each other since our changed 
relations in this respect, with all the freedom and frankness 
which result from long and cordial association. The introspec- 
tion of him which has been afforded me in consequence of 
the foregoing facts, has in a great measure, qualified me to 
speak candidly and truthfully of him, now that he is no more. 
He would not, if lie could, dictate that I should speak other- 
wise, for, in his life-time, he absolutely "disdained disguise," 
and was always ingenuous and manly, entirely above and 
beyond deceitfulness. He was as free from hypocrisy as any 
man I ever knew. 

Judge Nugent was an exceptionall}' scholarly man. To a 
liberal education he had added a vast store of information, 
acquired from extensive reading and profoinid research. He 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 343 

broadened the knowledge he possessed by the operation of his 
own intellectuality. As a colloquialist, I have never known 
his superior. His language was graceful, cultured, eloquent, 
and always singularly free from slang and indelicacy. It was 
a treat to hear him converse on any subject, I have frequently 
had occasion to admire his diction. Kven in social or business 
epistolary correspondence, he was unusually accurate and 
accomplished. He was a literary purist. A profane, an inele- 
gant, an indecent or wicked word I never heard escape his lips. 
I have frequently remarked that his charges to the juries, 
whether oral or written, were as faultless as a carefully pre- 
pared magazine article. His public speeches were character- 
ized by the same charm and precision. His vocabulary, 
whether in requisition for pen or tongue, was always copious, 
chaste, correct. The English language has been beautified, 
dignified, preserved and purified whenever and however uttered 
by him. 

Judge Nugent was a kindly, genial, amiable man. There 
was nothing harsh, sullen or hateful in his disposition. He was 
generous and forgiving in his nature, never bearing malice, but 
always ready and resolute in his expression of disapprobation 
of any species of impropriety or injustice. His eye was quick 
to see, his ear to hear, and his heart to respond to any condition 
of human wretchedness. He deeply pitied the woes and 
troubles of mankind. He was easily approached. Upright 
and sincere himself, he was not suspicious of guile in others. 
I do not doubt that his absence of distrust in his fellow-man 
has, at times, made him the subject of imposition. 

He was a thoroughly conscientious man. This he exhibited 
in all the walks of life, as a citizen, in the social and moral 
relations, at the bar, on the bench and in the field of politics. 
Whatever cause he espoused was in response to his convictions 
of duty. He was a jurist of high order. His service as judge 
of the District Court was efficient and useful. He was cour- 
teous to all with whom he came in contact, never dogmatic nor 
tyrannical. He was fair and considerate alike to litigant and 
counsel, ever striving to be just in his judgments. His judicial 
conduct was such that he was rarely, if ever subjected to 



344 THK LIFE WORK OP THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 

adverse criticism at the hands of his professional brethren. I 
think it can be truthfully affirmed that he had the entire res- 
pect of every lawyer who ever practiced before him, together 
with abiding confidence in his legal ability and integrity. 

His political career of recent years has been indeed remark- 
able. I, for one, do not believe that the motives which led 
him to advocate the cause of Populism and to align himself 
with the party it represents were of a selfish character, nor do 
I think that he was especially ambitious for official preferment. 
His splendid character and commanding ability were such as 
to focalize the attention of his new political associates upon 
him, and it is not wonderful that, as the v.oice of one man, 
they united in calling him to leadership, and supported him 
with unwavering loyalt5^ He passed through two heated 
campaigns for the highest office in the State, and though retir- 
ing therefrom in defeat, he still retained the unshaken confi- 
dence of his party, and did not forfeit the respect of his 
political opponents. It is no small thing to say of any man 
that he died the political idol of more than one hundred 
thousand men in any State, and this can be faithfully declared 
of Nugent in Texas. 

Of his religious life it is not my province to speak, but I 
know that he had firm and honest views in this regard, and 
their 'observance was satisfactory to his conscience. From the 
standpoint of human judgment he was a good man. Beyond 
that it is impossible for mortal vision to reach. Those of us 
who knew him best, can repeat his dying words, and say that 
in this world, as it was given to him to see it, we verily believe 
he ' ' tried to do his duty. ' ' 

S. W. T. I^ANHAM. 



It gives me supreme pleasure to testify to the kingly quali- 
ties of my deceased friend, Hon. T. L. Nugent. I recall with 
great pleasure my first acquaintance with him. It was along 
in 1882, as I now remember it, when publishing the Gates- 
ville Advance, I met Judge Nugent, who was at that time 



the; lifk work op thomas l. nugent. 345 

District Judge of a large district, including Coryell county, 
where I then lived. The impression I first received of him was 
that he was a man of superior character in everyway, and that 
impression not only remained with me through all the years of 
our friendship, but deepened as I came to know him better in 
after years. In those days his was a diflBcult task. It is not a 
reflection on the excellent people of Coryell county to say that 
in the years gone by there was in that county a great deal of 
crime committed. Of course the good people are not responsi- 
ble for this. I merely cite it as a fact that is well known. 
During the years when the criminality prevailed to a greater 
extent than perhaps at any other time, either in the past or 
subsequently, Judge Nugent presided over the court of that 
county in a masterly manner. He was as brave as a lion, as 
gentle as a woman, as conscientious and upright as any man, 
and supremely unselfish in all his acts, both public and private. 
It is not too much to say that he stood for many years at the 
very head of the legal profession in Texas, and that when he 
died, no man in this state or any other was more widely 
esteemed and beloved than he was. I remember when his 
political faith began to change. When I first met him he and 
I were both very ardent and earnest Democrats, and worked 
together for years as members of that party. In private, how- 
ever, many times, we discussed the abuses that had become 
dominant in that party, and which seem to be on the increase. 
As for my own part, when my political faith changed in 1886, 
I espoused the cause of the Prohibition party, and later on 
Judge Nugent, by the logic of events, unable longer to endorse 
the monopolistic tendencies of his old party, aligned himself 
with the new and promising Populist party. 

It seems to me that such a life as his should be an inspira- 
tion to every young man. His life was a constant rebuke to 
the methods believed by some men to be necessary to success in 
life, and a constant emphasis of the fact that honesty and 
uprightness and probity and fidelity to conviction lead to the 
highest and best success in life. If I had to select a model 
for the young men of this generation, I would not need to go 
further than my deceased friend and brother. I trust that the 



346 THK LIKE WORK OF THOMAvS I.. NITGKNT. 

volume which is being prepared by his l^eloved wife may serve 
to inspire many young men with a holy ambition to emulate 
the noble example he has left with us, and that the deeds of 
his kingly life, more imperishable than Parian marble, may 
serve as sign posts on the high road to signal success and honor- 
able achievement on the part of many struggling youths. Had 
he lived, and had he allowed his name to be again used as a 
candidate for governor of Texas by the Populist party, I have 
no doubt that he would have been elected to that high office. 
While a member of another party, and while voting the Prohi- 
bition ticket in each election, I think no man who has ever 
been offered for office in Texas was more deserving than Judge 
Nugent. If the friends who knew him best, both in public and 
private life, will emulate his effiarts and stand as he stood, for 
what they conscientiously believe to be right, I am sure they 
will carry out in the best possible way the wishes of their dead 
friend. May it be the will of God that many men such as he 
was, may rise up to bless our land. 

Dr. J. B. Cranfill. 



Tylkr, Texas, December 19, 1895. 
Mrs. T. ly. Nugent: 

Kind Madam — I was absent from Tyler when the sad, sad 
news of Judge Nugent' s death was received. To us of east 
Texas his death was a surprise and a shock. We loved and 
trusted your husband, and he was to us the star of our hope. 
That star has faded from the firmament, and for the present we 
are in darkness. There is sorrow in our hearts for the loved 
and lost one, and our invisible tears mingled with your own as 
they fell on the bier of him whom we all loved so fondly and so 
well. There is mourning in thousands of humble homes in east 
Texas, and the wives in those homes sorrow over the death of 
your great and good husband, and they sympathize with you in 
your great bereavement. 

Personally I feel that I have lost a friend. On a few occa- 
sions we were much together; and in hours of private conference 



THE LIFR WORK OK THOMAS h. NUGENT. 347 

I learned iiiucli of Judge Nugent which the general public 
could not know. Those conferences greatly endeared him to 
me, and his counsel gave me much strength. I saw his good- 
ness and greatness, his deep love for the common people — and 
these are the ones who loved him most. His place in his party 
and in the hearts of our people will be hard to fill— if not impos- 
sible. Knowing your husband as I did and loving him as I do, 
T have tried to tell the story of his life just as it appeared to me 
— to pay my humble tribute of love and friendship to the mem- 
ory of the greatest and best and purest public man I have ever 
known. May God comfort and sustain you in your hour of 
deep, deep sorrow. Judge Nugent fought a good fight and 
died a victor. His life was a benediction to mankind; his 
memory a precious legacy; his reward is sure to be great. 
Thank God for having given to the world so great and good a 
man. 

In profound sympathy and e.steem, I am, 

with respect, 

D. M. Reedy. 



Mrs. T. L. Nugent : 

Mj' Dear Friend.— h.^ you are aware, I knew Judge Nugent 
intimately in his home-life for more than sixteen years. To 
have known him from a professional or political standpoint was 
a great privilege ; but to fully appreciate the greatness of his 
mind and soul was to have known him socially, as a friend and 
neighbor. At his home, as well as elsewhere, I found him at 
all times the same plain, quiet, unol^trusive and unpretentious 
Christian gentleman. Many a day have I spent with him, and 
whether the subject discussed was science, politics or religion, 
I always came away feeling that I was a wiser and a l^etter 
man for having been in his presence. Both conversant with all 
ancient and modern literature, having a classical education, 
using the most chaste and faultless language, he seemed per- 
fectly ol)livious to his great attainments , and so wonderful was 
his adaptation to all classes of men that the most ignorant was 



348 THK LIFR WORK OF THOMAS L.' NUGENT. 

at ease in his presence. His feelings toward the poor and un- 
fortunate were of the most sympathetic. When discussing an 
important political, social or religious question, he would often 
pause and excuse himself to give counsel and advice to a stran- 
ger or a negro. The secret of his greatness was his humility 
and simplicity of heart and his great love and sympathy for the 
downtrodden and oppressed. To sit with him in his hospitable 
home, or to walk around with him over his farm, orchard and 
pasture, as I have done scores of times, was a veritable pleas- 
ure. His companionship lifted one above the routine of ordi- 
nary life into a purer and more congenial atmosphere. 

When I first became acquainted with J.udge Nugent, I 
thought his criticisms of the existing state of affairs, especially 
of church and state, were a little severe. Reared as I had been 
among people who believed and practiced the ' ' traditions of the 
Elders,", both in church and state, without giving them any 
thought, it shocked me somewhat to hear him criticise the cor- 
rupt state of the nation and the tendency of the churches toward 
ecclesiasticism rather than vital religion. But ere long the 
scales fell from my eyes and I saw that he was right. He had 
such an aversion to the horror of anything like fraud, sham or 
hypocrisy, whether in an individual, state or church, that he 
could not look upon them with much toleration ; but he threw 
the mantle of charity over all their shortcomings, for he 
believed that under the Divine providence all these things 
would work out for good in the end. The secret of his 
hold on the common people was his deep sympathy with them 
in their struggles to free themselves from bondage to monopo- 
lies and political taskmasters. With a vision possessed by few 
men, he foresaw their danger and warned them to dispossess 
their enemies of their power at the ballot box. He felt it his 
duty to devote his life to the betterment of his fellowmen, es- 
pecially of those whom bethought were being imposed upon 
by corrupt legislation. On the faithful performance of such 
duties, no doubt his mind was running when he spoke his last 
words, '■ I have tried to do my duty." And he did it. 

S. Frank. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



349 



Alvard, Texas, Feb. 10, 1896. 
Mrs. T. L. Nugent, Forth Worth : 

Dear Sister— Yo\xx letter of recent date received. In reply 
I am happy to state that I was personally acquainted with your 
beloved husband, T. L. Nugent, both in private counsels and 
public labors, for six years prior to his departure. I do not like 
to say death, as I do not regard, in the light of Revelation 
and the experience of all good men, the end of our earthly or 
material existence as death. This truth was fully realized by 
your husband. God being spirit, man emanating from God is 
also spirit, and spirit never dies. Brother Nugent fully realized 
that the great need of the world of mankind is a recognition of 
the fatherhood of God, and the universal brotherhood of man; 
and that the only line of success is to overcome evil with good 
or all powerful love as taught and exemplified by Christ. In 
all his life work, the soul of Nugent was always, when it was 
my privilege to meet him, fully aglow with love for humanity, 
ardently desiring to do all he could to elevate his race to a 
higher plane of intellectual and spiritual being. He was loved 
b}^ all the good and reverenced by the crude. He was a 
reformer of the highest type. Being armed with the sword of 
Truths he was bold and fearless as a Hon; yet as meek as a 
Httle child. God is blessing his labor of love and will continue 
to bless it in spreading the light of true Christian civilization 
over the land until right shall rule and conquer error, and the 
full import of the heavenly messenger's glad refrain, " Peace on 
earth, good will to men," shall be realized by all. 

Yours in truth, 

J. B. DabnEY. 



Having known and loved Judge T. L. Nugent as I did, I 
consider it a .great privilege to record a few things in honor of 
his past life. I feel my incompetency to do justice to the sub- 
ject and shall not attempt anything like a description of his 
professional or public life, for this would take a more gifted pen 
than mine, although I regarded him in this capacity as having 



350 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

but few, if any, peers in our Lone Star State. To know Judge 
Nugent was to love him. More especially to know him, as I 
did, in his private home life. 

I feel thankful for having been permitted to obtain an in- 
sight into his private life. It has ever acted as an inspiration 
to me in my own life. He was generous to all. I have no 
recollection of ever hearing him speak ought against his fel- 
low-men. On the contrary, he was ever ready with a word 
of praise. 

To know the innermost of a man's nature, you should 
know him at home, in his private life. Judge Nugent was as 
pure in his private life as he proved himself to be in public. 

May his memory live long, and may many be inspired to 
nobler lives by his grand example ! 

J. C. Powers. 



JUDGE THOMAS L, NUGENT. 

Most public men have a double character. It was said of 
one of our great (?) statesmen that he was politically honest 
and incorruptible, but that his private life was impure; that 
many young men were ruined by his influence. While T. L. 
Nugent was a just judge, a safe counsellor, and a wise politi- 
cal leader, he was greatest in the example and influence of his 
private life. At home, as husband, father and neighbor he was 
seen at his best. At the close of the hard day's work in the 
court, his wife would meet him with the buggy and all the 
annoyances of scheming lawyers, delinquent juries and unre- 
liable witnesses would be forgotten in the ride home. This 
home was not a mansion hemmed in by stately houses and 
paved streets, but a home where meadow, orchard and farm 
told of plenty, and the cottage among the trees invited rest. 
It was a true democratic American home, where culture and 
refinement gave hearty welcome to all classes. The .scholar 
or the day-laborer found a companion and a sympathizer in 
Judge Nugent, and all men left his home with an impulse to a 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 351 

more useful life. Such homes have furnished some of our best 
statesmen, and such homes are needed all over our land more 
than are splendid cities. 

Prof. Randolph Clark, 
Pres. Add-Ran University, Waco, Texas. 



Thomas L,. Nugent was no ordinary man. He was an 
accomplished scholar, a profound jurist, a far-seeing statesman 
and political economist. In manners he was unassuming and 
in morals he was pure. His character was the embodiment of 
the best elements that compose a model Christian, patriot and 
American citizen. He was simple in his habits and refined in 
his tastes. He reverenced God, venerated justice, loved liberty 
and regarded the moral progress, welfare and happiness of the 
whole people as the matter of supreme public concern. He 
seemed to recognize that the rancour of party prejudice was 
the greatest barrier to the progress of economic truth; and 
" with malice toward none and charity for all," he directed the 
energies of his great mind to its removal, so that government 
policies and party principles might be brought before the bar of 
public opinion that should be unbiased by the traditions of the 
past. 

Thomas L. Nugent had the confidence of the people of Texas. 
No man among us had a more brilliant future before him — 
none who had within his grasp greater power for doing good — 
and there was no one who seemed more fully determined to 
exercise it for the good of his country. A man of the highest 
order of intellect, possessing a heart burdened with love and 
care for his people — a leader of leaders among the hosts of 
reformers— his death leaves a vacancy in public life that will 
be difficult to fill. I fear that we shall not soon have his like 
among us again. 

J. M. Perdue. 



THR UFB; work of THOMAS L. NUGRNT. 353 



Funeral Notices and Resolutions. 



CONSIGNED TO EARTH! 



Judge Nugent's Remains Rest in the Soil of Stephenville, Which 
He Loved So Well 



EVIDENCES OF MOURNING 



Were Visible on Every Hand, and the Body Was Followed to the Grave By 
Hundreds — Simple Ceremonies, 

Stephen VII.LE, Erath Co., Tex., Dec. 15. — At the 
Nugent home in Fort Worth this morning crowds viewed the 
remains of the distinguished dead until 8 o'clock, when the 
hearse bearing the casket was escorted to the union depot, 
where the special train, generously and gratuitously tendered 
by the management of the Fort Worth and Rio Grande rail- 
way, stood ready to bear the funeral party to Stephenville. 
Engine No. 2, with Veteran Mike Hughes, who ran the first 
train over the road, at the throttle; the baggage car and coaches 
were heavily draped with mourning, hundreds of yards of crepe 
being visible about it, all the work of the Rio Grande manage- 
ment. The simple casket, buried with the rarest of flowers 
and containing the loved mortal remnant of a statesman and a 
humanitarian, was tenderly and tearfully placed in the baggage 
car. Around it were arranged seats of the most comfortable 
character, which were occupied by Mrs. Thomas I,. Nugent, 



354 THK IJFR WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

Wm. P. Nugent, Clarence Nugent, widow and sons of the 
judge; W. S. Essex, his law partner; Mrs. Essex, Mr. and 
Mrs. John W. Wray, Judge W. D. Harris of the seventeenth 
district court, Hon. R. Y. Prigmore, E. W. Yates and Mrs. 
Belle M. Burchill. The train departed promptly at 9 a. m., in 
charge of General Superintendent of Transportation John D. 
Huddleston. 

The I-'ort AVorth delegation, occupying the coaches, was 
headed by Hon. W. P. McLean, N. H. Lassiler, J. M. Moore, 
Seth W. Stewart, B. P. Eubank, Theodore Mack, John R. 
Cushnian; F. G. Thurman, C. J. Shepard, George Q. McGown, 

A. Armison, R. H. Smith, M. D. Priest, E: A. Peeler, Col. J. 
Peter Smith, E. Colham, S. O. Moodie, Judge John S. Triplett, 
Judge J. C. Randolph, Co!. J. Y. Hoggsett, Dr. l^llen Eawson 
Dabbs and others. Many of the gentlemen were accompanied 
by their wives. 

Col. E. A. Jones of Waco and a special representative of the 
JVcii's were on board. The first stop was made at Cresson, and 
while none joined the party here, still fully 200 were at the 
depot on arrival of the train, some of whom were in tears, 
while others bared their heads as the train came to a standstill. 

The next stop was at Granbury, where fully 500 had assem- 
bled, including the leading citizens of the city. The party 
joining the funeral train was headed by Col. D. E. Nutt, J. H. 
Doyle. Judge N. E. Cooper, W. T. Eyle, Dr. J. S. Turner, Dr. 
J. R. Lancaster, J. F. Kerr, Ed Boone, J. S. Browning, Hon. 

B. M. Estes, Jess Baker and others, most of whom were accom- 
panied by ladies. Among those at the depot who stood uncov- 
ered as the train passed, but could not accompany it, were 
Judge Eee Riddle and Hon. Eee Martin. 

The next and last stop before reaching Stephenville was 
made at Bluffdale. Here another large crowd was at the depot 
to greet the train, and accessions headed by Dr. J. A. Wood, 
M. Parnell and Warner Parnell, were taken aboard. At this 
point Hon. J. U. Vincent, the advance guard from Stephenville, 
was taken on. 

When the train hove in sight of Stephenville the sight that 
greeted the e3^es of the mourners aboard beggars description. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS h. NUGENT. 855 

The depot and the streets thereabout were lined with people of 
all classes, and the aggregation of buggies, wagons and car- 
riages, containing those who knew Judge Nugent best, and 
which gave undisputed testimony of the esteem in which they 
held him, brought tears and sobs from all sections of the train. 
As it slowed up Engineer Hughes had his fireman toll the 
engine bell, and soon the journey was over. Many of the cit- 
izens of Erath county, irrespective of party, were overcome, 
and sobs were audible in various parts of the great throng. 
The Masonic lodges of Stephenville and Comanche were present 
in full force, and to the number of 100 and more lined the 
passageway from the train to the hearse. 

The Fort Worth bar removed the casket from the train, and 
as they slowly walked through the narrow aisle formed by the 
Masons the spectators uncovered their heads as the mournful 
journey proceeded. The march to the cemetery, some two 
miles distant, was then taken up, the Masonic fraternity pre- 
ceeding the hearse on both sides, and in the rear of which were 
the Fort Worth attorneys. Passing the business portion of 
the town habiliments of sorrow were in evidence on all hands. 
The procession to the cemetery was over a mile in length and 
some twenty minutes elapsed between the arrival of the front 
and rear of the procession. The place of sepulture is in the 
southwest corner of the cemetery and the spot is surrounded by 
spreading oaks, now shorn of apparent life, but due to break 
forth in living green once again with the advent of spring and 
shelter the mound from the summer suns. 

The last sad rites were opened by a song, "All is Well," led 
by Mrs. James U. Vincent, and assisted by the ladies of Ste- 
phenville. Next came a touching tribute from Judge Nugent's 
life-long friend, Judge Thomas B. King. Hon. G. H. Good- 
son, of Comanche, next followed, reviewing th.e career of the 
deceased, paying a tribute that caused the tears of the hearers 
to mingle with his own. He had known Judge Nugent inti- 
mately since 1874. Next came "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," 
from the assembly. Its rendition in low tones was pathetic, 
and, by so many, was impressive indeed. 

The Masonic fraternities of Stephenville and Comanche, led 



356 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

by Master of ceremonies L. B. Russel, of Comanche, then con- 
cluded the ceremonies in accordance with Masonic ritual. 
When all was over, and the grave buried beneath rare and 
costly flowers, another song followed and the mourners and 
friends dispersed. 

Hon. C. H. Jenkins headed a large party from Brown wood, 
while Hon. N. R. lyindsay, G. H. Goodson, L- B. Russel and 
many others were present from Comanche. 

The Fort Worth contingent, including Mrs. Nugent, left for 
home at 3:30 p. m. 

A feature of the sad scene at the cemetery was the presence 
of some two hundred colored people in a body, all of whom 
were much affected. On the trip down the doorways of cot- 
tages, and in many places the side of the track, were filled and 
lined with spectators gathered to greet the train as it sped along 
on its .sad mission . 

Judge Nugent resided here from 1871 to 1889, and up to the 
end was loved and respected by all classes. Such scenes as 
were presented at the depot and cemetery are not often wit- 
nessed. Judge Nugent occupied the district bench from 1879 
to early in 1889, when he resigned and located in El Paso, 
moving to Fort Worth .shortly thereafter. He held to the hour 
of his death the love, confidence and esteem of every man, wo- 
man and child in the district. None but the noblest and purest 
of lives could induce .such a demonstration as that of to-day. 
A description of it would require the pen of a Hugo or Dumas. 
That his remains rest beneath the sod of old Erath, so long his 
liome, is a fact highly gratifying to those who were so long his 
neighbors and his friends. The incidents of his career cited by 
those who knew him best but emphasize what the public already 
knows of him. That his party and his state in his death have 
suffered an irreparable loss none can doubt. 



RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT. 

Fort Worth, Tex., Dec. 14. — The following resolutions, 
reported by L. Calhoun, S. O. Moodieand Martin Irons, were 
adopted by members of the People's party: 



THE I.IFR WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 357 

Whereas, it has pleased the Supreme Ruler of the universe to 
remove from our midst our beloved friend and noble leader, the 
Hon. T. L. Nugent; and 

Whereas, we deem it our duty, as it is our pleasure, to leave 
to the country, our associates and his bereaved family some 
testimonial of our love for the deceased and sympathy for his 
family; therefore 

Resolved, that in the death of the Hon. T. L. Nugent, the 
nation has lost one of her purest patriots, the state one of her 
best citizens, the bar of the country one of its most exemplary 
members, the People's party a leader beloved by all its mem- 
bers and respected by his political opponents; his family, one 
whose place cannot be filled save by Him who has thus called 
from the cares and troubles of this life one fit to enjoy the 
blessings of heaven; and 

Resolved further, that we join with all who love honor, in 
honoring our deceased friend, with all members of our party in 
mourning the loss of our noble leader, with all citizens in the 
loss of a noble man, with the bar in the loss of one its most 
worthy members; and, be it further 

Resolved, that we deeply sympathize with his bereaved family'- 
in the loss of the husband and father, trust that they may find 
comfort in his last words, "I have tried to do my duty," and 
live in the hope of meeting him in another and l:)etter world 
where sickness and sorrow are no more; and 

Resolved, further, that all members of labor organizations 
and citizens generally are requested to unite with us to-morrow 
morning at 8:30 o'clock at the family residence, corner of 
Fourth and Taylor streets, to accompany the remains to the 
train; and, further 

Resolved, that a copy of these resolutions be furnished the 
Fort Worth Gazette and the Dallas News for publication, and a 
special committee of three be appointed to present a copy of the 
same to the family of the deceased. 



ACTION AT HILL,SBORO. 

Hii,'LSBORO,Tex., Dec. 14. — At a meeting held here to-day by 
the friends of Judge T. I^. Nugent, the following resolutions, 



.''58 TIIK I.IFR WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 

reported by J. G. H. Buck, J. S. Bounds and J. D. Mitchell, 
were passed: 

Whereas, It has pleased the Supreme Architect of the uni- 
vense to remove Thomas L/. Nugent, of Fort Worth, Tex., 
and take him to Himself, and 

Whereas, We deem his demise a mournful calamit}^ to his 
family, his friends and his state, therefore be it 

Resolved, By the particular personal friends of the deceased in 
this community, assembled in Hillsboro, Tex., 

1. That in the death of Judge Nugent there has passed 
from this to the higher life a soul of ancient and heroic mold, 
one imbued with the noblest traits of our common humanity, a 
soul too true, brave and direct for even calumny itself to 
assail; one devoted to famil}", friends, country in his life, his 
action, his sentiment, his motives; in whom no mean cunning 
or political trickery could even be harbored as a thought, much 
less cherished as a purpose; one whose nobleness of soul, 
purity of heart and ability of mind were recognized, admired, 
lauded even by thousands who dissented from his views; one 
whose place in the world of morals, politics and professional life 
will be difficult to fill. 

2. That while we acknowledge the wisdom of Him whose 
decrees are right, v<^e can not but deplore the bereavement that 
crushes the hearts of the faithful wife and loving children of 
the dear departed; we cannot but look with sorrow upon the 
vacant place in our ranks and mourn that as friend, counsellor, 
leader we shall see his benignant face and hear his words of wis- 
dom no more. 

3. That we extend to his bereft family our tearful condo- 
lence in their irreparable loss and offer to them the sweet con- 
solation growing out of that bright religious faith v.'hich cheered 
his own life and opened up to him a glorious pn)sj)ect in the 
life beyond. 

4. That a copy of these resolutions be offered to the Fort 
Worth Ga-:cti(\ 'llie Dallas News and all other papers desiring 
it, and that one Ijc sent to the family of the deceased. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT 359 

RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT. 

Ennis, Ellis Co., Tex., Dec. 14. — News of the death of 
Judge Nugent was received here to-day, causing many expres- 
sions of regret. The Ennis popuhst cUtb was called together 
and the following resolutions were adopted in regard to the 
death of Judge T. L. Nugent: 

Resolved, that in the death of Judge Nugent the state of 
Texas has sustained an irreparable loss as a statesman and 
patriot. 

Resolved, that while we bow with humble submission to the 
decrees of an all-wise providence, we deem that the Populist 
party cannot replace the leadership of the "Chevalier Bayard" 
of their cause. 

Resolved, that no truer friend, statesman or patriot has ever 
represented the populist cause in the state of Texas. 

Resolved, that a copy of these resolutions be sent to his sor- 
rowing family, and that the Ennis Eve7iing Meteor and the Dal- 
las Morning News be requested to publish the same. 

GEO. H. HOGAN, 
H. E. CORLEIN, 
JOE MARCUM, 

Committee. 



expressions of regret. 

Waco, Tex., Dec, 14. — News of the death of Judge Nugent 
was received here in the forenoon in a dispatch, to Col. E. A. 
Jones, and was the cause of expressions of regret in all cir- 
cles. Judge Nugent was held in highest esteem here. His 
visits were frequent, and he always made his home in Waco, 
at the residence of Col. Jones. It happened that when the 
announcement was made of the death of the populist leader, 
Col. Jerome C. Kearby, who is regarded as Judge Nugent's 
successor in political leadership, was here. Judge C. H. Jen- 
kins of Brownwood, another prominent populist, vi^as also here. 
These gentlemen expressed deep sorrow and a sense of the 
loss, not only to their cause, but to the state of Texas, which 



H60 THK LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

loses in Judge Nugent a citizen of great intellect and power 
with the people. 



KIND WORDS BY ALL. 

McKinney, Collin Co., Tex., Dec. 14.— The news of T. L. 
Nugent' s death has caused the hearts of his followers to throb 
with condolence. Nothing but kind words are spoken by mem- 
bers of all parties. 



THE LIFE WORK OE THOMAS L. NUGENT. 361 



HON. THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



The Texas Commoner's Soul Took Its Flight at 2:40 O'Clock 
Saturday Morning. 



CALM AND PEACEFUL END. 



Burial at Stcphcnvillc — Funeral Train Placed at Mrs. Nugent's Disposal — Reso'- 
lutions of Respect — Telegrams. 



Fort Worth, Tex., Dec, 14, — This city is in mourning to- 
day. At 2:40 o'clock this morning the watchers at the bedside 
of Judge T. L. Nugent realized that the end of his earthly 
career was at hand, He had all but ceased to breathe. In fiv^e 
minutes more the soul of the great Texas commoner was with 
its maker. 

His end was calm and peaceful; in fact, it seemed more like 
going to sleep than dissolution. Gradually for twenty-four 
hours his breathing was growing fainter and his last breath was 
not unlike that of a faint zephyr giving token of the end of a 
storm. His two elder sons and his devoted wife were at the 
bedside and their tears were mingled with those of sorrowing 
friends who well knew the greatness of their loss and the true 
nobility of ^oul of the great man who had just been called to 
his eternal reward. 

The end, while not unexpected, was a sad blow to thousands 
scattered in all parts of the country. With the dawn of day 
and when it was known over the city that T. L. Nugent was 
no more, sorrow enthroned itself in every home and a gloom 



362 THE LIKK WOKK OK THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

was cast over the spirits of all. Men differed politically with 
Judge Nugent, but personally all, irrespective of party, loved 
him, and now that his voice is hushed and his noble heart 
stilled forever all concede the beauty and purity of his life and 
the fact that Texas has been bereft of one of her greatest sons 
and the bar of the state of one of its rarest jewels. The News 
correspondent was at his bedside at the end, but owing to the 
fact that the Western Union telegraph office closes at 2 a. m., 
could not reach his paper. 

The second supreme judicial district court of civil appeals, 
the seventeenth and forty-eighth district courts, the county and 
justice courts, on learning of his death, promptly adjourned in 
respect to his memory until December 16. and about the court- 
house all has been quiet and mourning. 

Since 4 o'clock this afternoon telegrams of condolence have 
been pouring in upon Mrs. Nugent. Among those received are 
the following: 

Col. E. A. Jones, of Waco: " You have my deepest sym- 
pathy. I mourn the loss of a very dear friend and humanity 
one of nature's noblemen. I will come to-night." 

Judge John C. Main and Hon. J. T. Daniels, Hamilton : 
' ' We have heard with deep grief of the death of your pure 
husband. All Texas mourns with you in your loss. ' ' 

Hon. E. P. Ashbury, Houston: "Myself and associates 
mourn our departed leader and mingle our tears with yours. ' ' 

A. R. Crawford and others of Belton : ' ' Bell county popu- 
lists send sympathy." 

F. C. Thompson and others, McKinney: " Accept sincere 
sorrow in behalf of the loved and lost, whose memory will ever 
be cherished in the hearts of all who knew your husband. His 
grand and noble character will ever be a guiding star to 
all who aspire to heights of justice and honor. Most sincerely 
yours." 

To-night similar messages are being received from prominent 
parties at points where his death is known. 

Arrangements for Judge Nugent's funeral at Stephenville 
to-morrow were concluded to-night. As soon as President 
John Hornby, of the Fort Worth and Rio Grande, heard of 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUOKNT. 363 

his death and the intention to inter his remains at his old home 
in Stephenville, he placed an engine, baggage-car and coach 
at Mrs. Nugent's disposal for use free of charge at such time as 
she might elect. 

This train will leave the union depot at 8:30 a. m. to-mor- 
row and arrive at Stephenville at 12 o'clock, where interment 
will take place in accordance with the ritual of the Sweden- 
borgian faith, thirty minutes later. Other coaches will be on 
this train for the accommodation of all who desire to attend. 
The Rio Grande will also run a special from Brownwood. 

During the last illness of Judge Nugent and when it was 
known he desired to go to Las Vegas, N. M., the Fort Worth 
and Denver road had all in readiness to transport him and his 
family there free of charge the very moment his condition 
would allow. To-night at the Nugent home friends are con- 
stantly calling to take a last look at the lifeless form of the noble 
dead in the handsome casket enclosing it. The casket rests 
beneath huge piles of rare and costly floral offerings, the last 
sad tributes of mourning friends. 

Early in the organization of the populist party in Texas, 
Judge Nugent, having been in full sympathy with most of the 
essential reforms proposed by this party, and especially 
impressed with profound convictions of the danger to the liberty 
and happiness of the people by the growth and encroachments 
of monopolies which have aroused the thought and excited the 
alarm of so many of the leading scholars and thinkers of 
America, and believing that democracy was too devoted to tra- 
ditional and trivial policies, he quietly and in his association 
and contact with his neighbors began furthering the great pop- 
ular movement inaugurated by the Farmers' Alliance. This 
movement among the farmers and the discontented url3an labor- 
ers, together with the failure of the dominant party in Texas, 
as he thought, to appreciate the causes and extent of popular 
discontent, and to fornndate remedies adequate to the solution 
of such difficulties, led to the organization of the now admit- 
tedly great and growing ])opulist party. 

It is claimed to be a principle and policy of this party to 
neglect the busy self-seeker of honors and emolnnient and 



364 THI5 LIFE WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

revert to the iiatiu-al laws of manly leadership. Under the 
operation of this principle and the natural law of leadership, in 
1892, Judge Nugent was the unanimous nominee of the party 
for governor. He could ill afford to accept such nomination, 
because having always been devoted to intellectual pursuits and 
public duties he had not cultivated the currents of private thrift, 
and was therefore not financially able to devote such attention 
to the canvass as he felt was his duty. Besides, having always 
been a man of delicate health, he felt that the excitement of 
political canvassing would overtax his wasted strength. Still 
the demand was so sincere, spontaneous and earnest that, waiv- 
ing personal considerations, he consented to lead what was, in 
his judgment, so his intimate friends say, from its incipiency 
a forlorn hope otherwise than in its educational effects upon the 
people. 

How well he performed his duty is attested by the fact that 
he is said to have made no utterance in that campaign which 
his friends would now have "expunged from the record," and 
the further fact that he received the, it is said, unexpected vote 
of over 108,000. 

Plis splendid canvass and that character against which even 
malice could suggest no taint, led to his second nomination in 
1894, and the consequent reunion of the incorruptible elements 
of the Democratic party. He again entered the campaign, 
prompted as before by what he concieved to be a sense of duty 
and devotion to the humble folk which composed the great body 
of his party. 

His second campaign was characterized by high intellectual- 
ity and the same catholic sympathy which marked the first and 
resulted in an increased vote and the demonstration that the 
Democracy had been reduced from a position of overwhelm- 
ing majority to depend upon a plurality of votes for success. 

That Judge Nugent was a true leader, none will dispute: 
devoted to what he conceived to be the essential principles of 
reform, Init brave above the letter of claptrap generalities. 
Relying upon the force of truth, the strength of logic, of 
which he was a technical master, he despised all the trickery 
and cunning of those who make a trade of political politics. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 865 

At times he has been known to answer those of his counselors 
and lieutenants who feared that conditions were not favorable 
to the emancipation of some of the truths involved in the anti- 
monopoly movement which he was leading, by urging still 
bolder attacks upon the bulwarks of conventional thought and 
the entrenchments of the crystallized policies of a dead past. 

The history of these two campaigns will ever remain, his 
party friends say, as monuments of his devotion to truth, jus- 
tice and manhood. 

Personally Judge Nugent was a man of good taste and refine- 
ment, which together with his varied learning, delicate con- 
sideration for others and infinite sympathy, made of him in 
personal and social intercourse one of the most companionable 
of men. He had perhaps the largest personal following of any 
man recently prominent in Texas politics. 

As a lawyer he was characterized by pains-taking care in 
the preparation of his cases, by the wealth of learning he 
brought to bear upon the elucidation of difficult points, and by 
honorable and fair methods, w^hich are perhaps the chief works 
which always distinguish great lawyers. As an advocate, his 
forensic efforts were characterized by extreme clearness and 
adorned by the rich spoils of the schools. His searching exami- 
nation of a witness in his younger daj'S, and when in perfect 
bodily health, it is said by those who were associated with him, 
always excited the admiration of the bench, bar and by-stand- 
ers. It is said that on one occasion he was known to extort 
from an unwilling and naturally able witness a confession in 
substance of the theft of a herd of over 2,000 head of cattle. 
It is further said that on several occasions unworthy witnesses, 
trained in the cunning of rogues, were forced by him to make 
shameful disclosures under his searching logic on cross-exami- 
nation, and actually thank him after the manner of whipped 
school boys, when their masters have laid down the rod. It is 
said on the other hand, that to fair and honorable witnesses he 
at all times exhibited the deference to which they were al\^ays 
entitled. 

Had his lot been cast in the heavily populated districts of 
the state, it is safe to say that few, if any, would have been 



366 THR l^IFE WORK Ol^ THOMAS I^. NUGENT. 

more highly esteemed by his peers either on the bench or at 
the bar, and his friends believe that the highest honors in pro- 
fessional life would have been easily within his reach. But the 
flower of his life was spent in a comparatively new and unset- 
tled country remote from the centers of trade and professional 
efforts, and it was only in his declining years, broken in health, 
that he removed to Fort Worth. 

On the bench he was courteous, considerate, patient and firm. 
His charges were said to be models of apt eiuniciation of legal 
principles, and embellished, as all his utterances were, by a 
scholarly knowledgeof the English language. 

Judge Nugent, more than is usual with men of affairs, after 
his admission to to the bar, kept up his classical studies, 
especially his Greek. But lately he devoted his leisure hours 
to the study of economic and social questions, and metaphysical 
philosophy, nor did a fondness for inquiry into the deeper mys- 
teries of religious thought ever depart from him. 

Some allusion to his family history is perhaps not out of place. 
He comes from one of the oldest and most eminent of south- 
ern families distinguished by the name of Lewis. His grand- 
father was an eminent lawyer of his generation and served with 
marked ability on the supreme bench of lyouisiana. His 
brother, of the firm of Nugent & Mc Willie, is recognized to- 
day as one of the leaders of the Mississippi bar, ranking with 
such lights as Walthall and George and adding luster to a bar 
of a state famed from its earliest history for the illustriousness 
of its bench and bar. 

Further details touching this great life would be superfluous. 
The life whose character was built up on the lines of his last 
intelligible utterance to his beloved wife, "I have tried to do 
my duty," remains to his friends a sacred memory, and for 
those who shall come after, a model and an example. 



BAR MEETING. 



Fort Worth, Tex., Dec. 14. — At 3 o'clock this afternoon the 
members of the Tarrant county bar assembled in the seven- 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. oGT 

teenth district court room to take action touching the death of 
Judge Nugent. Upward of 100 were present. 

Hon. Newton H. L,assiter was called to the chair and T. P. 
Martin, Esq. , was elected secretary. Chairman Lassiter, with 
choking voice, feelingly adverted to the enormity of the loss 
sustained by the legal profession in the death of Judge Nugent, 
paying him an eloquent tribute as a brother, father, husband, 
citizen, jurist and statesman. He then stated the object of the 
meeting to be the taking of action such as Vv^as befitting the 
character of such an ornament to the profession as Judge 
Nugent had been. 

On motion Hon. John W. Wray, Judges J. W. Stephens, 
Sam J. Hunter of the Second Supreme Judicial District Court 
of Civil Appeals, and W. D. Harris, of the Seventeenth District 
Court, were appointed a committee on resolutions. 

Pending the report of this committee it was moved and car- 
ried that a committee of sixteen members of the bar be ap- 
pointed to escort the remains to Stephenville, where the inter- 
ment takes place to-morrow. The committee consists of Col. 
John Peter Smith, Hons. Newton H. Lassiter, Theodore Mack, 
R. H. Smith, M. D. Priest, Seth W. Stewart, James W. 
Swayne, F. G. Thurman, W. S. Essex, John W. Wray, R. S. 
Blair, J. Y. Ploggsett, B. P. Eubank, J. C. Scott, Judge W. D. 
Harris and Hon. John M. Moore, 

The resolutions committee then reported as follows : 

Whereas, nature, by her immutable law and in the certain 
course of events, has terminated the earthly career of our friend 
and co-worker, T. L,. Nugent ; and 

Whereas, he was a respected and honored member of this 
bar, a most estimable citizen, and in the daily walks of life a 
noble character ; therefore, be it resolved, by the Fort Worth 
bar, 

1. That the District Courts of Tarrant County are requested 
to stand adjourned until Dec. 16, 1895. 

2. That this bar in separating from Judge T. L. Nugent is 
deeply sensible of its great loss. 

3. That it extends to his family its profound sympathy in 
the hour of bereavement. 



368 THE I.IFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 

4. That these resolutions be spread on the minutes of the 
higher courts of the state, the courts of Tarrant County, and 
that a certified copy of the same be given his bereaved widow. 

After touching and eloquent tributes commemorative of the 
high, pure life of the deceased, his worth as a friend, citizen, 
statesman and jurist from Hons. A. M. Carter, E. C. Orrick, 
Judge John M. Moore, John W, Wray, Sidney L. Samuels, 
Hon. N. II. I^assiter, Judge S. P. Greene, W. S. Essex, S. O. 
Moodie and many others, the resolutions were unanimously 
adopted by a standing vote and with bowed heads. 



THE UFE WORK OP THOMAS I,. NUGENT. 309 



REMARKS MADE BY HON. G, H, GOODSON, 



A Beloved Friend of Judge Nugent, During the Funeral 
Ceremonies at the Grave, 



When asked by the family and friends of Judge Nugent to 
assist in performing these last sad services of earth to him, I 
gladly consented. I felt then, and feel now, that if our places 
were changed, it would have comforted my last hours to have 
known that he, of all men, would have come and stood over my 
grave in the midst of my family and friends, and done this ser- 
vice for me; and I thought then, and think now, that if in the 
the other life to which he has passed he be conscious of the 
events of this — and I believe that he is— it would be pleasing 
to him to know, that one of his old time friends, who knew him 
long and loved him well, came with his family and neighbors 
around his grave and with kind thoughts and gentle words, 
assisted in laying him away and comforting the distressed 
hearts of those who loved him. But now, as I stand here over 
his dear body, shrouded and coffined for the grave, in the midst 
of the bowed forms, the tearful eyes, and saddened hearts of 
this vast multitude, in the deep hush of this solemn hour, when 
the thrilling memories of his pure and gentle life come .so vividly 
into my mind and heart, the power of .speech and coherent 
thought .seem to have passed from me. 

I knew Judge Nugent as thoroughly and intimately in all the 
relations of life as one man can well know another, for twenty 
years; and, in my judgment, he was the purest, gentlest, the 
lovlie.st man I ever knew. He had developed in him all the 
elements of useful and graceful manhood to a higher degree 
than any one else I ever knew. He was a man of steadfast and 



370 THE I.IFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 

immovable integrity; of profound and forceful ability; a stu- 
dent, philosopher and scholar; ornate, polished and brilliant. 
To his rare mental acquirements, he added a nature of gentle 
and deep humanity; kind, helpful, loving, and forgiving, he 
was incapable of entertaining malice, and always found some 
kind and charitable word for every one. Of great philan- 
thropy, deep sympathy, easily siding with the weak, the lowly, 
and the oppressed; a close and attentive student of the great 
social, economical and political questions that have occupied 
public thought within the last decade, he fully believed that 
wealth had too much power, that poverty had too much weak- 
ness, in our social and political conditions; and in his later 
years he turned away from the political traditions and associ- 
ations of his earlier life, and patiently, lovingly, and in deep 
sincerity, devoted himself to what he considered the highest 
interest of all the people — the betterment of the condition of 
the great body of the laboring people. 

Whether or not the changes he advocated, the policies that 
he insisted on and advocated before the world with such pro- 
found ability, were wisest and best, the rapidly unfolding events 
of the near future will soon determine; but of his absolute sin- 
cerity and loving patriotism, we all ever knew. 

He was a lawyer in the best and highest sense, and in his 
conduct illustrated the glory of his profession. As a Judge, he 
was able, pure, and impartial, was eminently just, and admin- 
istered all the high powers of his oifice and the force of his 
great character to discover the truth and conserve the right. 
He was of a deeply religious disposition, not, indeed, of the 
current kind; for his mind was too large and his soul too great 
to put the limitations of modern theology on the Divine attri- 
butes and purposes of "Our Father who art in Heaven." His 
religion was of that deeply rational kind that seized upon and 
appropriated the great Christ-life, as it was actually lived 
among men from the banks of the Jordan to Joseph's tomb. 
He delighted to believe in and practice the great truths in the 
" Sermon on the Mount," and he believed with the Christ, that 
rational Christianity consisted in the practice of the great 
truths therein taught — in patient and loving .service, feeding 



THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS h. NUGP^NT. 371 

the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and going in 
unto those who are in prison — doing these and other works of 
love and helpfulness to all, and especially, to the "least of 
these, my brethren." 

I feel so thankful that I have not waited until he was dead 
to think and say these things over his grave, for I so believed 
and so spoke while he was living, and of this he always knew. 
When he rallied during the last hours of his mortal weakness 
and said to his wife, " I have tried to do my duty," he but 
spoke what all men knew to be the underlying and controlling 
inspiration of his great and heroic life. 

At the end of a life like his there is no " dark valley " or 
"chilly waters" to pass through— not at all; but what we 
shudder at and call death is but the beginning of higher life, 
the next orderly step in the great course of nature, necessary to 
enter into that higher form of spiritual existence made possible 
by the life lived here, and that in its unfolding and developing 
possibilities, will be of immortal growth, of unspeakable 
grandeur and beauty. So living, so believing, and so dying, 
this dear man has entered upon the great life; and though sad- 
dened by his leaving us, when we consider that he has entered 
into unending rest and glory with his God, I ask, as did the 
poor school-master at the grave of "Little Nell," if we pos- 
sessed the power, which of us would dare to utter the word 
that would recall him ? Let us all here, standing over his dead 
body, amid the memories of his poor spirit and upright life, 
consecrate ourselves anew to all those great and high purposes 
of life that were so beautifully illustrated in his character and 
conduct. The world has been made better by his having lived 
in it and, though dead, he will still live here in the never 
ending influence of his pure and gentle life. 

To his wife and to his children, it should rest like a benedic- 
on all their future life, that they have borne that relation to 
this truly great and loving man. To his friends it should, and 
will be, a dear and cherished memory that they enjoyed his 
affection and esteem. 

And now, as we lay his body away in this grave with tears 
and saddened hearts, let us all gather inspiration from the 



372 THE I.IFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

solemnities of this hour, to live always along the high lines of 
thought and conduct that he lived, that with us at the end it 
may be, as we know it was with him, peaceful, confident, 
victorious. 

* * 5jc 

AT REST. 

[Reform Press.] 

He is dead. The people of Texas stand uncovered by his 
grave. The soul of the great Texas commoner has passed over 
the river. Judge Thomas L. Nugent is no more. He passed 
quietly away at his home in Fort Worth, Saturday morning 
at 2:40. 

His end was calm and peaceful; in fact, it seemed more like 
going to sleep than dissolution. Gradually for twenty-four hours 
his breathing was growing fainter and his last breath was not 
unlike that of a faint zephyr giving token of the end of a 
storm. His two elder sons and his devoted wife were at the 
bedside and their tears were mingled with those of sorrowing 
friends, who well knew the greatness of their loss and the true 
nobility of soul of the great man who has just been called to his 
eternal reward. 

The end, while not unexpected, was a sad blow to thousands 
scattered in all parts of the country. AVith the dawn of day 
and when it was known over the city that T. L. Nugent was 
no more, sorrow enthroned itself in every home and a gloom 
was cast over the spirits of all. Men differed politically with 
Judge Nugent, but personally all, irrespective of party, loved 
him, and now that his voice is hushed and his noble heart 
stilled forever all concede the beauty of his life and the fact 
that Texas has been bereft of one of her greatest sons and the 
bar of the state one of its rarest jewels. 

Karly in the organization of the populist party in Texas Judge 
Nugent, having been in full sympathy with most of the essential 
reforms proposed by this party, and especially impressed with 
the profound convictions of the danger to the liberty and hap- 
piness of the people by growth and encroachments of monopo- 



THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



373 



lies, which have aroused the thought and excited the alarm of 
so many leading scholars and thinkers of America, and believ- 
ing that the Democracy was too devoted to traditional and 
trivial policies, he quietly and in his association and contact 
with his neighbors began furthering the great popular move- 
ments inaugurated by the Farmers' Alliance. This movement 
among the farmers and the discontented urban laborers, together 
with The failure of the dominant party in Texas, as he thought, 
to appreciate the causes and extent of popular discontent and 
to formulate remedies adequate to the solution of such difficul- 
ties, led to the now admittedly great and growing Popuhst 

party. 

It is claimed to be a principle and policy of this party to 
neglect the busy self-seeker of honors and emolument revert 
to the natural laws of manly leadership. Under the operation 
of this principle and the natural law of leadership in 1892 
Judge Nugent was the unanimous nominee of the party for 
governor. He could ill afford to accept such nomination, be- 
cause, having always been devoted to intellectual pursuits and 
public duties', he had not cultivated the currents of private 
thrift, and was therefore not financially able to devote such at- 
tention to the canvass as he felt was his duty. Besides, having 
always been a man of delicate health, he felt that the excite- 
ment of political canvassing would over-tax his wasted strength. 
Still the demand was so sincere, spontaneous and earnest that, 
waiving personal considerations, he consented to lead what 
was, in his judgment, so his most intimate friends say, from its 
incipiency a forlorn hope, otherwise than in its educational 
effects upon the people. 

How well he performed his duty is attested by the fact that 
he is said to have made no utterance in that compaign which 
his friends would now have "expunged from the record," and 
the further fact that he received the, it is said, unexpected vote 
of over 108,000. 

His splendid canvass and that character against which even 
malice could suggest no taint, led to his second nomination in 
1894 and the consequent reunion of the incorruptible elements 
of the Democratic party. He again entered the campaign. 



.'^,74 THE LIFK WORK O].' THOMAS I,. NUr.KNT. 

prompted, as before, by what lie crjnceived to be a sense of duty 
and devotion to the hunil)le folk which composed the great 
body of his party. 

His second campaign was characterized by high intellectual- 
ity and the same catholic sympathy which marked the first, 
and resulted in an increased vote and the demonstration that 
the Democracy had been reduced from a position of overwhelm- 
ing majority to depend upon a plurality of votes for success. 

That Judge Nugent was a true leader none will dispute ; 
devoted to what he conceived to be the essential principles of 
reform, but brave above the letter of claptrap generalities. Re- 
lying upon the force of truth, the strength of logic, of which 
he was a technical master, he despised all the trickery and cun- 
ning of those who make a trade of political politics. At times 
he has been known to answer those of his counsellors and lieuten- 
ants who feared the conditions were not favorable to the emanci- 
pation of some of the truths involved in the anti-monopoly move- 
ment which he was leading by urging still bolder attacks upon 
the bulwarks of conventional thought and the entrenchments 
of the crystallized policies of a dead past. 

The history of these two campaigns will ever remain, his 
party friends say, as monuments of his devotion to truth, jus- 
tice and manhood. 

Personally Judge Nugent was a man of taste and refinement, 
vv'hich, together with his varied learning, delicate consideration 
for others and infinite s^anpathy, made him in personal and 
social intercourse one of the most companionable of men. He 
had, perhaps, the largest personal following of any man 
recently prominent in Texas politics. 

As a lawyer he was characterized by painstaking care in the 
preparation of his cases, by the wealth of learning he brought 
to bear upon the elucidation of difficult points, and by 
honorable and fair methods, are perhaps the chief works 
which always distinguish great lawyers. As an advo- 
cate his forensic efforts were characterized by extreme 
clearness and adorned by the rich spoils of the schools. 
His searching examination of a witness in his younger days, 
and when in perfect bodily health, it is said by those who 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 375 

were associated with him, always excited the admiration of 
the bench, bar and by-standers. It is said that on one occasion 
he was known to extort from an unwilling and naturally able 
witness a confession in substance of the theft of a herd of over 
2,000 head of cattle. It is further said that on several occa- 
sions, unworthy witnesses, trained in the cunning of rogues, 
were forced by him to make shameful disclosures under his 
searching logic on cross-examination, and actuallj- thank him 
after the manner of whipped school boys, when their masters 
have laid down the rod. It is said on the other hand that to 
fair and honorable witnesses he at all times exhibited the defer- 
ence to which they were always entitled. 

Had his lot been cast in the heavily populated districts of the 
State, it is safe to say that few, if any, would have been more 
highly esteemed by his peers, either on the bench or at the bar, 
and his friends believe that the highest honors in professional 
life would have been easily within his reach. But the flower of 
his life was spent in a comparatively new and unsettled country 
remote from the centers of trade and professional efforts, and it 
was only in his declining years, broken in health, that he 
removed to Fort Worth. 

On the bench he was courteous, considerate, patient and firm. 
His charges are said to be models of apt enunciation of legal 
principles, and embellished, as all his utterances were, by a 
scholarly knowledge of the English language. 

Judge Nugent, more than is usual with men of affairs, after 
his admission to the bar, kept up his classic studies, especially 
his Greek. But lately he devoted his leisure hours to the study 
of economic and social questions, and metaphysical philosophy, 
nor did a fondness to inquire into the deeper mysteries of reli- 
gious thought ever depart from him. 

Further details touching his great life would be superfluons. 
The great life whose character was built up on the lines of his 
last intelligible utterance to his beloved wife, " I have tried to 
do my duty," remains to his friends a sacred memory, and for 
those who shall come after, a model and an example. 

The Sentinel desires to add to what has already been said. 



376 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

Our political associations brought us frequently in contact with 
Judge Nugent. To know him was to love him. 

In personal character he was clean and without reproach. As 
a scholar he took high rank. As a jurist he secured a distinc- 
tion never before accorded to a district judge in this state. One 
of his charges to a jury is given entire in the Texas Reports, 
handed down by the higher j udges as a complete exposition of 
the law. His political opponents and those who did not enjoy 
an intimate personal acquaintance with him, all join in an 
appreciation of his virtues and admiration of his typical Ameri- 
can character. In his public life he was devoted to principle, 
resolute in the discharge of duty, diligent, informed and able. 
Conciliating to opponents, refined in speech, courteous in man- 
ner, with a bounteous fund of loving kindness, he had the 
respect of friend and foe. He loved his state as a son his mother, 
and the country with undying devotion. He was a lover of 
liberty, of freedom in its broadest sense, not only of the person, 
but of thought and speech. He was always an educator of the 
people. His thoughts were fresh, vigorous and instructive. 
His thoroughness upon every question he touched was marked 
and habitual. He enlightened and strengthened every cause 
he advocated. He was great in dealing with them all, dull and 
commonplace in none. He gained prominence by the force of 
his cultivated mind, his keen and far-seeing judgment, his 
unanswerable logic, his strength and power of speech, his 
thorough comprehension of the subject. He believed that an 
intelligent people would sustain a man in acting sensibly on 
each proposition that arose, and in doing nothing for mere show 
or demagogical effect. No one questioned the accuracy of his 
learning or doubted the integrity of his purpose. He constantly 
advanced in public confidence, and wherever he met with or 
addressed the people he enlarged the circle of his admiring 
followers. 

His strength as a leader was due to his unswerving love of 
right, and his unmatched ability in satisf3nng candid minds 
that he sought with singleness of purpose ways which wisdom 
commended and truth and justice approved. In the great con- 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. o / / 

flict of principles mere expedients to dodge or delay an issue 
found no favor with him. 

Truth is eternal and her time is now. He recognized that in 
all life's labors duty is ours, results are God's. He despised 
demagogy, and had little patience with those who seek exalta- 
tion by that ladder of corrupt ambition. He loved his fellow- 
men. He never learned to hate even the meanest of mankind. 
His countrymen learned to love his precepts and to walk in the 
light of his example, 

Nugent is in his shroud and tomb, but in the hearts of our 
people he is mighty yet. His utterances and his example will 
outlast the earthly monument fashioned to make his name 
immortal. His grave will be the patriots shrine; his life and 
character be an inspiration to the lovers of freedom tliroughout 
the world. 

Whatever of him we have loved, whatever of him we have 
admired, remains, and will remain in the eternity of time. 

And is he dead, whose glorious mind 

Lifts thine on high ? 
To live in hearts we leave behind 

Is not to die. 

THOMAS L. NUGENT, 

Nugent is dead! The friend, father, husband, citizen, jurist, 
statesman, of whom any state or nation might justly have been 
proud, is no more. How painful the knowledge of his depart- 
ure! Oh, Death, thou art a monster! And looking around, I 
am made to exclaim, "How is the aching void to be filled!" 

Nugent was a man of sterling integrity. He was wise, 
patriotic, good. No suffering humanity "passed he by on the 
other side. " No widow's moan or orphan's cry shall rise up to 
condemn his righteous soul. 

But he is lost, lost to his friends and to his family. Lost to 
all who have an abiding interest in country, home, and human 
welfare. 



378 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

He was a great teacher. He taught by precept and example. 
He was very apt in making truthful and patriotic utterance, 
and then true to carry them out in public and private life. 

I once wrote him for advice. His answer sparkled with bril- 
liant mottoes for the populist and the citizen. 

"No man ought, for political effect, do that which his con- 
science and judgment cannot fully approve." 

"I have steadily refused to become identified with any secret 
political organization, and if the People's party should ever 
become merged in any such organization, I would quit it at 
once. Indeed, I would do so if it should ever be dominated by 
such an organization." 

"I have long since determined in public matters, to hold fast 
to principle, even in the face of inevitable defeat." 

"Success attained by compromising one's convictions of 
right can only in the end bring the bitterness of disappoint- 
ment." 

"If the reform movement fails, it will only be because mis- 
guided and deluded people insist on packing upon it issues it 
cannot safely carry. These, and many others are knocking at 
our doors, and thousands of our people are now endeavoring 
to force them upon us. There is but little hope for us if such 
efforts succeed. There is nothing in any of these things that 
carries any hope for humanity." 

"Populism seeks to restore the goverment to the control of 
the masses. If populists, therefore, go off after such side 
issues — if they join in with Democrats and Republicans in 
putting them above their own platform in importance, can they 
hope to succeed at all ? I would not, to be president of the 
United States, even by indirection, endorse or approve one of 
these things." 

All of these, and then came his last audible words, " I have 
tried to do my duty." It is useless to say there is wisdom, pro- 
found wisdom in these utterances. And then how impressive 
when we know they were strictly adhered to and practiced. 

I cannot quit this subject without quoting from his letter in 
which he announced his withdrawal from active political work: 
" But political leadership ought to contemplate something 



THK LIFE WORK OP THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 379 

higher than service of friends. There is the .service of country, 
of the cause of humanity, which .should command the attention 
of him who consents to take upon himself the burdens and 
respou.sibilities of candidacy for high office. That I may aid 
in some degree in quickening the public thought, so that honest 
and humane men might be brought to see, as with open eyes, 
the social injustice which puts unnatural burdens upon the thrift 
and industrj^ of the country, that I might be able to show how 
poverty might be bani.shed from our social system, and comfort 
and happiness brought to the door of every industrious man, and 
that I might by means of the opportunities afforded by political 
discussions, be able to point out the remedies which alone can 
bring about these condition.s — constituted with me the only 
excuse or ju.stification for entering the field of politics. Po.ssibly 
I hope for too much. If so, my only excuse is, that many years of 
study and reflection have so aroused my sense of the wrongs 
heaped upon the humbler classes of our citizens, that I seemed 
incessantly to hear their cries of distress, and was thus impelled to 
attempt more than my physical strength or the occasion justi- 
fied." Noble philanthropi-st ! 

" He lived for those who loved him, 
Whose hearts were kind and true; 
For the God who ruled above him. 
And the good that he could do." 

And the poor and laboring were his special wards. 

Judge Nugent neglected his office and home affairs, when by 
remaining there he could have enriched him.self , took up the 
cause of the labor class when there was absolutely no hope of 
emolument or success even in sight, and bore the brunt neces- 
sarily attached to the cause of unpopular right. But with his 
masterly eloquence and scientific reasoning he has ever been able 
to sustain his position against the strongest Bourbon assailant. 
But sacrifice and martyrdom always precede freedom and liberty 
of the masses, and this is by no means an exception to the 
rule. Nugent was one of the men who spent their good lives for 
the cause of right against might, and received not a penny in 
return. Yet, mid all his adversities, he led a life that was irre- 
proachable for purity and honesty. 



380 THR IJFK WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGENT. 

And now, when triumph and glory are ready to crown his 
efforts, his faihng heahh forces him to lay aside his armor and 
retire from the field only to be released from his sufferings and 
pass out, after shouting to his comrades, " Press on to victory, 
my heart is with you." 

The last words of his last communication to the public were: 
' ' I want to say to the reformers of Texas that I shall carry in 
my heart always the deepest sympathy and affection for them, 
and gratefully remember the unwavering support which from 
my entrance into political life they have given me." 

Many riches lie hath left us, 

In courage and counsel given 
Before his Heavenly Father bereft us, 

And took his weary soul to Heaven. 

Then weep him not, O sons of toil ! 

Breathe not one sorrowful word. 
He ' ' tried to do his duty ' ' here 

And has gone to his reward. 

But be determined in the strife, 

(That you can say what he has said) 
And succor those who still in life, 

Are struggling for their daily bread. 

His manly soul was touched with grief, 

At labor's wail from sore oppression. 
His life was given for our relief 

— To save this land from retrogression. 

Then don the armor (his spirit leads) 
Nor make the foe one poor concession, 

But by such noble patriot deeds. 
Regain control of our possessions. 

J. Pe«i,. 



The spotless Nugent is no more. 

The upright man, the kind friend, the able jurist has passed 
over the river and is now ' ' resting under the shade of the trees. " 

The wife has lost a husband, the children a father, the poor 
their best friend, the state one of her brightest jewels. 

In his home there is a vacant chair, in his town, a void, in 
his party, an empty place. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 381 

His last words were, "I have tried to do my duty," and 
there is not a man, woman or child in the borders of the grand 
lyone Star who does not know his dying words were true writ. 

When an honor roll of all the brightest gems, the most glit- 
tering diamonds, the purest pearls of the grandest men of earth, 
of those who kept their garments unspotted from the world, is 
made up in that kingdom that fades not away, we shall see in- 
scribed thereon by that Power that is perfect and that Hand 
that cannot err, the immortal name of the spotless Nugent. 

Our hand trembles, our head is bowed and our heart is sore 
troubled, for the friend of the poor, the defender of the op- 
pressed, the protector of the down-trodden, the man whose soul 
was as pure as the sparkling rain drops, whose heart was as 
great, as big, as loving, as kind as an angel's, whose life had 
been read as an open book by all men, though they might dis- 
agree, yet would they not condemn, has at last laid aside his 
battle armor, folded his weary hands and peacefully gone to 
meet the Rewarder of those who do their duty. 

No more, in the councils of his people, will his benign coun- 
tenance be seen; no more in their deliberations will this un- 
erring hand be there to guide; no more in the struggles, in 
their efforts for freedom will his voice cheer and his unwaver- 
ing, unfaltering, unflinching courage spur them on to deeds of 
greatness. But his pure example, his steadfast devotion to 
principle, his complete surrender of self to the call of duty, will 
live in the hearts of his followers as a sainted memory and 
incite them to more heroic efforts to break the galling bands of 
bondage that now bind them to the chariot wheels of plutocracy. 

In this age of corruption, his hands were clean; in this time 
of debauchery, his walk was decorous; in this day of venality, 
his voice was unbought; while on every hand the high oaks 
tl;at towered in the forests of men, were being swayed by the 
breath of flattery, were being bent by the blast of public opin- 
ion; the silver cyclone, the golden hurricane left his stately 
form erect amid the fearful destruction that was working such 
havoc around him. 

So long as cruel task-masters drive the children of men to do 



382 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

their ' ' tale of bricks, ' ' so long as the cry of oppression shall go 
up to the great white throne, so long as the life-blood of the 
laborer shall be demanded as tribute b}^ the king of greed, just 
so long shall the memory of this great man live, and his work, 
his life-labor prompt the toiling to bear with patience the heat 
of the day and the burden of their toil, for his spirit tells them 
there is yet a God in Israel who will hear and hearken. 

When the lion of Wall street and the .shorn lamb at his feet, 
when the rich and great, the despised and the unprotected, the 
Pullman and the poor, the robbers and the robbed, the gold 
king in his gilded palace and the honest yoeman in his wretched 
hovel can each and all receive justice, equal and exact before 
the law, and peace and plenty reign supreme in this ' ' then 
land of the free and home of the brave " will the name of the 
spotless Nugent be inscribed in every home, in every heart. 



JUDGE NUGENT DEAD ! 

This sentence will send a thrill of sorrow to the heart of every 
true reformer in the nation. 

Last Saturday morning, at his home in Fort Worth, all that 
was mortal of Thomas L. Nugent passed back to Mother Earth 
while his noble spirit winged its flight to a purer, better exist- 
ence beyond the shadow of death. For some weeks the Judge 
had been hovering between life and death, and, although feeble 
in health, his spirit was as bright as ever. Many eyes for the 
last ten days have watched eagerly each changing symptom as 
it was reported by the daily papers. 

Few men of note possessed the absolute love and confidence 
of all the people to such a degree as did Judge Nugent. Truly 
it could be said of him that behind him stood the ' ' Three 
Hundred." 

A leader of men, a moulder of public sentiment, a patron saint 
in populism, he was at all times and on all occasions the same 
imperturbable, undemonstrative, cool, conservative, yet vigor- 
ous and active, friend of all humanity. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 



383 



Gifted with eminent legal attainments, brilliant as an orator 
and sound as a logician, he forestalled all these callings for the 
ministrations of the Good Samaritan. While endowed with a 
high order of statesmanship, his home circle and familiar ac- 
quaintances counted their number into the scores. 

The only man whom the Populists of Texas have permitted 
to be called a " leader " is gone, and, although bereft of our 
pilot, the good deeds and words of the man himself will lead 
us to greater achievements. 

Loved and respected, and even admired by his political ene- 
mies, his death will be keenly felt by the whole people of the 

state. 

In sorrow we bow, in humble submission, to the will of Provi- 
dence. Our loss is his gain. 

Judge Nugent was 54 years old, and leaves a wife and family 
to mourn his loss. To them we extend our sincere sympathy 
in this their sad affliction. 



THR IJFE WORK OF THOMAS I.. NUGKNT. 385 



LETTERS OF SYMPATHY AND CONDOLENCE, 

AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS OP 

MRS. NUGENT. 



[The News correspondent's and circulator's headquarters are in the 
office of Winters, Davis & Co. , Hotel Worth building, corner Main and 
Seventh streets.] 



LETTER FROM MRS, NUGENT, 

Fort Worth, Tex., Dec. 23. — Mrs. Nugent continues to 
receive letters of sympathy and condolence. 

Hon. C. J. Nugent of Mount Sterling, Ky., brother of Judge 
T. L,. Nugent, writes, among other things saying: 

"The sorrow of so great a bereavement is greatly modified, 
however, by the remembrance of his true and innocent life, 
his undoubting faith in God for this life and that which is to 
come. I have often lamented our long separation and looked 
forward with joyful anticipation to meeting him at Centenary 
college next summer, when he would be there to address the 
alumni association. Brother William and I had arranged, God 
willing, to meet him there. The great impression he made on 
me when he was a boy, ly^ years older than I, by his bright, 
aspiring intellect, his unusual knowledge, his mature judgment, 
and most of all, by his generous, unselfish nattire and his com- 
plete integrity — that impression has grown all these years. It 
was a great comfort and pleasure to me when Dr. Wells, Baptist 
minister, and our own preachers at Memphis last year from 
Texas testified that he was the greate.':>t and one ofthe best men 
in Texas. Senator Coke said of him to brother William: "He 
is the biggest man we have in the state. ' ' 



886 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

Hon. H. ly. Bentley of Abilene, who managed the first guber- 
natorial campaign made by Judge Nugent, writes: 

"I have heard of Judge Nugent's death, and am so shocked 
that I am not equal to the undertaking of expressing to you 
how sad the news makes me. I had heard of his sickness and 
had written to him, begging him not to give up to the disease that 
was threatening his life, but I had not thought it possible that 
just when he was so much needed by the people of Texas, he 
would be taken from them. There were so many of us who 
were associated with him in the effort to make conditions easier 
for the poor of the state. I need not say to you that your noble 
husband was my friend, and that I loved him as I have loved 
but few of my friends. ' ' 

Hon. Thomas B. King, County Judge of Erath County, 
writes : 

' ' The overflow of all classes of people from all sorrowing 
sections here yesterday, demonstrates things that were comfort- 
ing from the neighbor side of life. Much more, be assured, that 
if you could see from the God side would you be comforted. 
God and the neighbor is all the law and the gospel." 

Hon. A. Freeland, secretary and treasurer of the Texas 
State Single Tax lycague, Waco, writes: 

"Accept condolence of the single taxers of the State of 
Texas in your sad bereavement. We recognize your loss as 
our loss, and a loss to all forces which are working for the 
uplifting of humanity. But the influence of Judge Nugent's 
life, the deeds done, the words uttered, the example set can 
never be lost. May the day soon come when conditions will 
be so adjusted that the brotherhood of man will be an estab- 
lished fact, when such heroes as your beloved husband will 
be the rule, not the exception." 

J. W. Baird, lyuling: "We feel with you the great loss to 
you, to us, the State, and above all to the poor of all classes 
throughout our great nation. Loved and respected of all men, 
his name will be honored and revered as long as the love of 
liberty is cherished by the American people. ' ' 

Hon Marion Martin, Corsicana, writes: "If all the expres- 
sions of sympathy and sorrow occasioned by the death of your 



THE I.IFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 387 

noble husband, Thomas L. Nugent, could reach you it would 
require volumes to contain them, and add to these the deep, sad, 
silent and unexpressed sorrow beating in the hearts of his patri- 
otic associates in this great reform, who have learned to appre- 
ciate his noble life, his wise counsel in this, the darkest hour 
of our country's history. Let me assure you that the sacrifice 
he made for the cause and principles they loved will inspire 
within their hearts a patriotic sentiment that will live as long 
as memory lasts. My appreciation of Judge Nugent' s char- 
acter was formed by being associated with him in the conven- 
tion that framed our State Constitution in 1875, and I am con- 
fident that I express the opinion of every member of that 
convention, that, in his every act as a member, he always tried 
to do his duty. And oh, what a pleasure to me, as a life-long 
friend, I can truthfully say his dying words were the guide 
that prompted his every act with his fellow-men, through his 
short but useful life. Who can estimate the loss of such a man 
in this hour of our country's greatest need? When the power 
and influence of money has chilled even the spirit of Christi- 
anity, and almost driven the spirit of patriotism from the land. 
May his dying words inspire our hearts with renewed energy 
and determination that will enable us in our last moments to 
truthfully say, " I have tried to do my duty." 

Mrs. Emma K. Turner, Perry, Ok.: " The world has lost 
a noble man and the people of Texas in particular a great friend, 
whose place can never be filled. ' ' 

Hon. E. L,. Dohoney, Paris: " From the human standpoint 
the departure of Judge Nugent seems untimely and almost an 
irreparable loss to the people of Texas, to the grand army of 
political reformers of which he was the acknowledged leader, to 
the small circle of philosophical and ethical students to whom 
he was known as an advanced thinker, but most of all to you, 
who best knew his great analytical mind and his deep loving 
nature. But to you and I and all who recognize ' the things 
which are not seen ' with the natural [physical] eye, he is not 
dead, but lives on a higher plane, when, freed from the shackles 
of matter and the environments of time and sense, he works 
with a far greater spiritual leverage for the redemption of 



388 THE LIFK WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

oppressed humanity. Those last words, ' I have tried to do 
my duty,' express the sum of his earnest and pure life and are 
a sure guaranty that his noble work was not ended, but only in 
reality begun. Through the countless years of eternity his 
course will be onward and upward on the pathway of truth in 
the sunshine of love." 

Hon. J. S. Stroughan, who is now the presiding Judge over 
the district long graced by Judge Nugent, writes: " I need 
not tell you how sorrowful I feel, since you perhaps knew some- 
thing of my strong admiration and friendship for Judge Nugent. 
I had known him intimately for twenty years, during all of 
which time he was my personal and professional friend." 

J. W. Thomas, Abilene: " I have lost a friend of many 
years' standing. ' ' 

D. M. Reedy, Tyler: " To us of east Texas his death was 
a surprise and a shock. We loved and trusted your husband 
and to us he was the star of our hope. * * -'^ He was the 
greatest and best and purest public man I have ever known." 

Mrs. Alice McAnult}', Circleville: " Your loss, while irrev- 
ocable and inconsolable perhaps at the present, is one individu- 
all}^ felt throughout the whole country wherever humanity, love 
and patriotism and loyalty exists. ' ' 

In addition to the above are many letters of similar import 
from all sections of the state, resolutions of bar meetings, alli- 
ances, citizens' meetings and other organizations. There is not 
a day that visitors from all sections of the state do not call upon 
Mrs. Nugent in person to pay their respects. A delegation of 
Johnson countyites here to-day were among the callers. 



Fort Worth, Tex., Dtc. 22. — Kindly permit me space in 
your great paper to express my gratitude to the people of Texas 
for the uniform and deep sympathy so generously and sincerely 
extended me in tlie hour of my great affliction. 

I have not had the heart to sooner undertake the task of ex- 
pressing to the whole people the gratefulness that wells up in 
my soul and almost overwhelms me. 

It will not be possil)le for me to acknowledge individually 



THE LIFR WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 889 

the receipt of the many tender letters and messages of condo- 
lence and sympathy and resolutions expressive of the love and 
esteem in which my husband was held, sent me, and the sin- 
cerity of the sorrow of all at his death. I can only say to one 
and all that I will, and his children will, ever cherish in loving 
remembrance each and all the many evidences of love and 
esteem for him and sympathy for his bereaved loved ones. 

I desire to especially thank the management of the Fort 
Worth and Rio Grande Railway Company for its kindness in 
extending to me the special train from Fort Worth Dec. 15 last, 
on which day were transported, free of charge, the earthly re- 
mains of my beloved husband and the funeral party to Ste- 
phensville and return. This generous action on the part of 
this road will long be remembered by us all, and I will onlj- 
plead the inadequacy of language with which to more forcibl}- 
convey to its management the appreciation due its generosity ; 
the people of Fort Worth, among whom I will continue to make 
my home, for their devotion to Judge Nugent and his family 
at all times, and especially during the closing days of his life, 
when, hour by hour, many of them stood by his bedside and 
mingled tears with ours as the life tide slowly ebbed away ; his 
faithful friends and party associates, who so nobly stood b}' 
him in all his battles for the right ; the people of Stephenville, 
among whom we so long resided, loved so well and were loved 
in return, and amid whom my husband's body now rests, in 
accordance with his oft-expressed wishes ; the bars and the 
people generally of the judicial district over which he so long 
presided and among whom he spent many of the happiest years 
of his life ; the press'of Texas for the generous treatment of him 
when living, and the justice done him since his death. 

I wish especially to thank the News; for it, while differing 
with him politically in his lifetime, at all times treated him 
and the great cause of the masses of the people championed by 
him with a degree of justice and fairness challenging the admi- 
ration of all, and early winning for it and its representatives his 
complete confidence and respect. The fairness and impartialit>- 
with which the 7V<7£^^ treated the death and reviewed the life- 
work of my beloved husband cannot fail to commend it to all 



390 THK LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGKNT. 

who knew him. From the bottom of my heart I thank the 
News and the press of the state. 

My sorrow is tempered by a knowledge of the fact that thou- 
sands in Texas and elsewhere mourn with us, and during the 
remainder of life my heart will pulsate with love unutterable, 
and my lips will speak prayers for the prosperity, success and 
happiness of you all. May an all-wise Creator bless you, is 
the sincere prayer of Mrs. Thomas L,. Nugent. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 391 



TO THE MEMORY OF HON, T. L, NUGENT. 



MRS. F. C. THOMPSON, M 'KINNEY, TEXAS. 



What low, pathetic anthems fill the air, 
And mingle holy reverence with the breeze, 

And touch the heart with sacred, gentle care 
That gives a moment earthly sorrows ease ? 

'Tis chanting of an angel-spirit throng. 
Which from the pearly gates of heaven descend, 

To rescue from the grasp of worldly wrong 
A chosen soul, God's altar to attend. 

See ! as they come within the mournful room 

And hover o'er the form upon the bed, 
They pause and note the woe, the grief, the gloom 

Which breaks the widowed heart and bows her head. 

They falter ere they check the ebbing tide, 

And pity her with smiles of angel beauty, 
And soothe her with his last words ere he died. 

Immortal words, "I've tried to do my duty." 

Yes, ever will that noble utterance be 

A comfort and a balm unto her heart ; 
While his own faith and deep sincerity 

Showed his had always been a soldier's part. 

He leaves behind a host of weeping friends 

And followers who greatly feel his loss, 
The sighs of many a lonely heart attend 

The fleeing of his spirit to the cross. 

— From The Wealhcrford Leader. 



31J2 THK I^IFE WORK OF THOMAS h. NUG1':NT. 



CHEROKEE COUNTY RESOLUTIONS. 

To the Chairman of the People'' s Parly of Cherokee Co.: 

We, your committee appointed to submit resolutions on the 
death of our distinguished fellow-citizen, Hon. Thos. L,. 
Nugent, beg leave to submit the following : - 

Whereas, in His infinite wisdom it has pleased the great 
Judge to call from his earthly labors to the Court above, our 
dear brother and beloved judge, Thos. L. Nugent, therefore 
be it resolved by the executive committee of Cherokee County, 
Texas, nov/ in session in the town of Rusk : 

I si. That in the untimely death of Judge Thomas I,. Nugent 
the State of Texas has lost a noble citizen, the country a pure 
and true patriot, the judiciary an able and honest member, his 
family a loving and devoted father and husband. 

2nd. That the oppressed have lost a zealous friend, reform 
and good government a faithful disciple, always brave, true, 
conscientious and modest. 

jrd. That we have a model in his life which all can look 
upon with feelings of joy and pride ; a life upright, devoted, 
and when closely written, says there is neither blemish nor 
stain — a life ending with the triumphant signal to loved ones as 
he crossed over the river, " I have tried to do my duty." 

jj.ih. That it was of such as he that Holland thought when he 
broke forth in that fervent prayer, ' ' God give us men as time 
like this demands, great minds, strong hearts, faithful and 
ready hands; men whom the lust of office cannot buy; men who 
have opinions and a will; men who have honor; men that will 
not lie; men who will stand up before their fellow men and 
compel their respect; tall men, sun crowned, who live above 
the fog in public dutj'." 

^Ih. That a copy of these resolutions be furnished by the 



THE LIFE WORK OP THOMAS L. NUGENT. .'>'.)3 

secretary to the publishers of the East Texas Re/of-mer, Sottth- 
cr?t Meracry, Nacogdoches Plaindealer and Tenaha Ledger, with 
a request that tliey publish same. And that the chairman of 
this committee have a copy prepared and sent to the family of 
Judge Nugent. 

Respectfully submitted. 

S. R. WHITLEY, 
S. V. STOVAIJ,, 
P. H. FORD, 

Committee. 

The above resolutions were unanimously adopted with bowed 
heads. 



PEOPLE'S PARTY CLUB. 

Floresville, Texas. 

Regular meeting, Saturday, December 21, was called to order 
at 8 p. m., with vice-president J. A. McDonald in the chair. 
On motion the roll call was dispensed with. 

lyucio Rodriquez joined the club. 

The following resolution was read by the secretary and being 
feelingly seconded by L. A. lyawhon with remarks appropriate 
to the occasion, was unanimously adopted: 

Be it resolved b)^ the People's Party Club of Floresville, 
Texas, in regular session, that in the death of Thomas L,ewis 
Nugent at Fort Worth, on Saturday morning, December 14, 
1895, the state has lost her most eminent and incorruptible cit- 
izen; society at large, one of its most conspicuous examples of 
social eminence, in the highest meaning of the term; the bar of 
Texas one of its most distinguished and valuable members; the 
People's Party of Texas and of the United States one of its 
purest, most self-sacrificing patriots; and the family of the 
deceased its pride, stay and central ornament: 



394 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

Resolved, that the deepest sympathy and condolence of this 
club is hereby offered to the noble woman who has met this 
heavy bereavement in a manner becoming the consort and friend 
of one so eminent, and to all his surviving family: 

Resolved, that the following beautiful lines of Edwin Arnold, 
be adopted by this club as the funeral dirge and memento of 
the beloved dead, and spread upon our minutes, in perpetual 
commemoration of his great life and character: 

"He who dwells at Azan sends 
This to comfort all his friends." 

Faithful friends! It lies, I know, 
Pale and white and cold as snow; 
And ye say, " Abdallah's dead!" 
Weeping at the feet and head. 
I can see your falling tears, 
I can hear your sighs and prayers; 
Yet I smile and whisper this — 
"I am not the thing you kiss; 
Cease your tears and let it lie, 
It was mine, it is not I." 

Sweet friends! what the women lave 

For its last bed of the grave, 

Is but a hut which I am quitting, 

Is a garment no more fitting. 

Is a cage from which at last. 

Like a hawk, my soul has passed. 

Love the inmate, not the room — 

The wearer, not the garb — the plume 

Of the falcon, not the bars 

Which kept him from the splendid stars. 

Loving friends! be wise, and dry 
Straightway every weeping eye ; 
What you lift upon the bier 
Is not worth a wistful tear. 



THE UFE WORK OF THOMAS L- NUGENT. 

'Tis an empty sea-shell — one 
Out of which the pearl is gone; 
The shell is broken— it lies there; 
' Tis an earthen jar, whose lid 
Allah sealed, the while it hid 
The treasure of his treasury, 
A mind that loved him; let it lie ! 
Let the shard be earth's once more, 
Since the gold shines in his store. 

Allah glorious ! Allah good ! 
Now thy world is understood; 
Now the long, long wonder ends, 
Yet ye weep, my erring friends, 
While the man whom ye call dead. 
In unspoken bliss, instead, 
Lives and loves you; lost, 'tis true. 
By such a light as shines for you; 
But in the light ye cannot see 
Of unfulfilled felicity— 
In enlarging paradise, 
Lives a life that never dies. 

Farewell, friends ! Yet not farewell. 

Where I am, ye, too, shall dwell. 

I am gone before your face, 

A moment's time, a little space; 

When ye come where I have stepped. 

Ye will wonder why ye wept; 

Ye will know, by wise love taught. 

That here is all, and there is naught. 

Weep awhile if you are fain — 
Sunshine still must follow rain; 
Only not at death— for death, 
Now I know, is that first breath 
Which our souls draw when we enter 
Life, which is of all life center. 



395 



390 THE UFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. 

Be ye certain all seems love, 

Viewed from Allah's throne above; 

Be yet stout of heart and come 

Bravely onward to your home! 

La Allah, ilia Allah, yea! 

Thou love divine ! Thou love alway \ 

He that died at Azan gave 

This to those who made his grave. 

Resolved, that a copy of these resolutions be sent to the 
family of the illustrious dead, a copy to each of our local 
yapers and to the Soiiihevn Mernuy and Galveston News, 
with request that they be published. 



JUDGE T. L, NUGENT. 

I Austin .Statesman.] 

The advancing army of political and social reform in our 
state has met with an almost irreparable loss in the untimely 
death of our standard bearer, Judge Nugent. He was a man 
of well nigh unequalled candor and honesty. From a center of 
original sincerity proceeded his every public utterance. He was 
above the arts and tricks of the average politician, and never 
stooped to use them. A native of the vSouth, to the manor 
born, scarcely passing beyond its limits, he kept himself in 
touch with the various phases of reform in every land 
and assimilated whatever was valuable in their experience. 
Had he survived, it was hoped and expected that he would be 
placed on the ticket of the People's party next 3'ear as their 
candidate for the vice-presidency. 

The farmers of Texas had in him the same absolute and im- 
movable confidence that their grandfathers had in the old hero. 



THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT. -397 

Andrew Jackson. Under the depression caused by ill health 
and exhausted by the demands of an onerous profession, his 
heroic fidelity to his convictions never flinched. Truth, as he 
understood it he maintained at whatever cost. It is vain to try 
either to estimate his abilities or utter the grief we feel that his 
useful labors can be exerted on earth for the good of mankind 
no more forever ! Benevolence flowed from his loving soul, as 
the flashes of day issue from the sun. For he ' ' was a burning 
and a shining light. " E. M. Wheelock. 



Stephenville, Texas, December 27th, 1895. 

To the W. M. , Wardeiis and Brethren of Stephenville Lodge, 
No. 267, A. F. & A. M. 

We, the undersigned committee, appointed by the Lodge on 
the 15th day of December, 1895, to draft resolutions expressive 
of the feelings of this Lodge on the death of our brother, T. L. 
Nugent, beg leave to report the following : 

First. — That, whereas it has pleased the Supreme Ruler of 
the Universe to call from Labor on Earth our beloved brother, 
Thomas L. Nugent, to refreshments in the Grand Lodge above; 
therefore be it 

Resolved — That in the death of Brother Nugent the Masonic 
Fraternity has lost a noble and exemplary member, one whose 
example and precept was ever worthy of imitation and emula- 
tion — the country a patriotic citizen — the great body of the 
people a true friend, and his family a pure, loving, kind and 
indulgent husband and father. 

Second. — That we bow with humble submission to the 
untimely death of our brother, feeling and believing tliat the 
Grand Master doeth all things well and our loss is our 
deceased brother's gain. 

Third. — That these resolutions be spread upon the minutes 
of this Lodge, and a copy be sent by the secretary, under the 
seal of this Lodge, to the widow of our deceased brother, to 



398 THE LIFE WORK OF THOMAS L. NUGENT, 

whom, with our deceased brother's children, we tender our 
deepest sympathy and condolence in this their great loss and 
bereavement, all of which is fraternally submitted. 

G. H. GOODSON. 
IvEE YOUNG, 
L. N. FRANK, Committee. 
Attest, JNO. W. GRAY, Sect'y. 



